Sound of Madness
by Valoja
Summary: You're just an ordinary schoolgirl with the potential to become something much, much more than you could ever dream of. When your situations draw you closer, will Mikoto Suoh be able to shape you into who you are supposed to be? Reader/OC 1 x Mikoto Suoh [main] / OC 2 x Tatara Totsuka. Albums "Leave a Whisper, "Us and Them, "Sound of Madness" and "Amaryllis" belong to Shinedown.
1. What a Shame

Before you start reading, I would like to say that I'm not using an OC but just the reader. The only thing that I'm going to change is that I'm going to give the reader a name instead of using "[F/N]" or "_", because I find that it kind of ruins the whole mood. The name doesn't have anything special meaning, it's just to keep the flow up. Now go and enjoy some Mikoto lurv!

* * *

**What a Shame**  
_What a shame to judge a life that you can't change.  
The choir sings, the church bells ring, so won't you give this man his wings?  
What a shame to have to beg you to see we're not all the same._

"Haruka, if you don't get up now you're going to be late for school! This is the last time I'm telling you!" your mother called from downstairs. Her voice was so loud that could hear it through the shut door and all the blankets covering your head.

"I'm coming, I'm coming…" you muttered groggily, still half asleep.

"Haruka!" your mother's voice called once more, not having heard your response.

"I'm coming!" you yelled back, throwing your pillow against the door in irritation.

After kicking the blankets away, you rolled out of the heavenly warmth and purposely landed on the floor with a loud crash. Now completely awake, you smiled as you heard your mother mutter a complaint about the racket you caused every morning. Quickly glancing at the clock hanging on your wall, you realised you did not have very long to get ready so you hurriedly got up and while you changed out of your sleeping attire and into your school uniform, you kicked your pillow back onto your bed. You didn't spend much longer on your appearance – save for the short brush of your hair – before you stumbled down the stairs.

"Itadakimasu," you yelled at your mother as you shoved the sandwich she had made for you into your mouth (which she did only for you, because you never had enough time to eat something proper anyway) and grabbed your schoolbag. You did all that while skipping through the hall, trying to put on your shoes without losing too much time.

"I'm off! Bye!" you called one last time, not sparing your mother another glance who merely shook her head at the energy you could only display in the morning.

Once you were halfway to school, you allowed yourself to take a look at the time on your phone and with an accomplished smile you found that you were earlier than expected so you decided to take it slow for the rest of the walk.

It seemed that is was going to become a pleasant day. It wasn't too warm or too cold, there weren't many clouds and the sky was beautifully blue.

You had a feeling that today was going to be your lucky day…

* * *

With a sigh, you stared at the piece of paper that had just been handed to you by your teacher. The look of disappointment on his face had been enough to inform you about the results you had gotten for your latest test.

Just like all the others before this one.

Failed. Again. Your lucky day, huh?

Well, your locker had been empty this morning when you switched to your indoor shoes.

But it had been empty for the past few weeks.

You were beginning to see a pattern here. Whenever you would dare talk to a boy for longer than a certain amount of time, the girls would start to bother you. That would bother you and you would talk to the boys even more, ending in a never ending loop. But why was it your fault that you were accustomed to a higher quality of communication than those fake girls could offer, anyway? The boys viewed you as one of them, nobody had to be afraid of you sleeping with anyone.

Of course, their brains were too little-developed to actually process any of this so you had to stick with having as little contact with others as possible. Not that you minded or anything, you almost feared their stupidity to be contagious and you very much liked being sane.

That being said… Why was it still that those brainless dipshits would always get better results than you at everything except sports?

Sports… Your mind wandered off towards the other test you had taken some time ago to get a recommendation for a unique opportunity to study at a special sports school. A small smile appeared on your face as you thought about all the possibilities that might bring with it… Doing your favourite pastime all day long, every day. Now that would be paradise-worthy!

"Shouta-san, please try to keep your mind in the classroom." Your teacher's voice halted your train of thoughts and with a quick nod you redirected your gaze to the blackboard at the front of the classroom, ignoring the whispers that were suddenly being thrown between girls sitting at the other side of the room.

You couldn't help but catch the word 'Suoh' and with a frown you wondered what he had to do with them. Suddenly remembering something, you looked back outside to where you had been staring only moments ago and to your horror realised that you had been staring at no one other than Mikoto Suoh all this time. He was sitting outside, leaning against a tree with his arms folded behind his head. You weren't sure but it seemed as if he were asleep.

Lowering your head, you tried your best to hide your pink cheeks with your hair while concentrating on what the teacher was babbling on about – something about algebra. That seemed to work for the thought about maths seemed to cheer you up a bit.

Yes, maths and sports, that was really all there was to Haruka Shouta.

* * *

The sound of a bell signalled the end of the day and without even listening to the teacher who was quickly trying to finish his last sentence the whole class rushed out of the room. You weren't about to waste your precious energy on getting away from this building as soon as possible and politely nodded your head at your teacher before heading out of the room as the last student.

The hall was noisy and crowded all of a sudden, pupils everywhere were talking about their plans to make homework together or saying goodbye to their friends before running off to the lockers. You caught bits and pieces of a conversation about a group of boys from your class going out to play baseball together.

As they ran past you, one of them bumped into you.

"Ah, sorry Shouta," the boy – Arata Hideyoshi was his name – started and the fact that he had dropped the honorific was enough to catch the attention of one of the girls from your class, who sent a frown your way.

"Don't worry about it, Hideyoshi-san," you replied loudly and sighed inwardly when you saw the girl shrug and leave without further ado.

"Would you like to join us in our game?" he continued and your heart almost stopped beating at the question, fearing that your period of peace at school was about to get broken off abruptly.

You had probably been overreacting, for nobody was paying attention to you anymore. But as much as you felt like sweating this pent-up stress out of your body, you just couldn't afford to start another war against the class. Not when you had to try your best to get better results at school…

"Ah, thank you for asking but I'm too busy right now. Maybe next time?" you replied with an apologetic smile. The boy merely shrugged and gave a quick wave before sprinting off after his friends.

As you made your way to the lockers too, you couldn't help but smile at the happy faces surrounding you, even though you were quite jealous of how they could get along so well with each other. The closest thing you had had that you could compare to such a relationship was when a stray dog had been roaming around the street you lived in. Each day after school you would share your lunch with him, whether it was raining or sunny. But one day he just stopped coming and after asking around it had become quite clear that someone had called the police to put the poor thing to sleep.

While you unlocked your locker, you said a little prayer and opened it only to notice that it was just like you had left it – empty and clean. With a sigh of relief, you reached in to grab your outdoor shoes and your heart did a summersault when you saw a piece of paper swirl to the ground. You quickly bent down to pick it up but didn't dare to open it, though your posture relaxed significantly when you realised it was an officially sealed letter and not some angry mail from one of your fans.

Once you had switched your shoes, you closed your locker again and made your way out of the building while carefully tearing the envelope open. The official insigne of your school was printed at the top of the letter that came out was enough to make your heart race and you slowed down to read what it said.

_We are sorry to inform you…_

You stopped moving, one foot hanging awkwardly in the air as you stared down at the paper in disbelief. How on Earth was it possible to fail the admission exams for a school where sports were the main subject? Were you really _that_ stupid?

The results hadn't even been fully processed by your dumb brain when the next images went to torture your mind: what were you supposed to tell your parents? Of course they had hoped that you wouldn't 'throw your life away with something that couldn't guarantee you a stable life', especially your father was against all this.

But if you told them that you had managed to _fail_ to get accepted into that 'useless place where no one has a proper future ahead of them'… You could already feel your father's fist against your face.

In a reflex your hand flew up to your face, as if your body were already expecting the punishment as your other hand crumpled the letter into a ball.

"Failed a test?" A voice from behind you scared the shit out of you and you held back a scream by clapping your hand over your mouth.

Twirling around, your fright was quickly replaced with surprise when you realised the boy you had seemingly been staring at during class was the one who had scared you just now. Somehow that struck you as odd, for he had never spoken to you before so why would he start doing so now?

Mikoto Suoh frowned as he got to see your face and you wondered what had upset him, but then you felt your eyelashes grow heavy all of a sudden and before you even knew what was going on you rubbed your arm against your face to wipe the tears away before they could fall.

Neither of you said anything else and you just stared off into the distance while the strange boy continued to investigate your face for any further signs of pain.

"Why were you crying?" he asked rather abruptly and for a moment you faltered, wondering if the normal rules of social interaction did not mean anything to him. Especially the most important one of not asking someone about their tears when they had made it quite clear that it was not something they were willing to talk about.

"I wasn't crying," you replied sternly, averting your gaze again.

"Yes you we-" he started once more but was cut off when you threw your wrinkled ball of fail-letter at his face. Luckily for him he managed to catch it before it hit him and he stared at it in confusion, as if asking himself where it had come from all of a sudden.

When he looked back up, he was surprised once more by the fact that you were already sprinting off and for the first time in a long time he thought that he might not be able to catch up with someone.

A sudden curiosity filled him as he examined the crumpled paper and carefully unfolded it, trying his best not to tear it as he did so.

_We are sorry to inform you that you did not pass the entrance examinations for x school, oriented to train athletes to their maximum potential._

_Average scores:  
Math: B  
Science (Physics, Biology, Chemistry): D  
Social Science (Geography, History): F  
Language (Modern/Classical Japanese texts): D  
Foreign Language (English): B  
Health and Physical Education: A  
Arts: D  
Home Economics: C  
Citizenship: E_

* * *

It took you three days to muster up enough courage to break through your daily routine of getting up too late, hurrying to school, trying your best to concentrate during class while having as little contact with the other students as possible to avoid any unwanted attention. You did so during lunch break, ignoring the curious glances others were sending your way for you normally spent your break eating your food alone inside the classroom while reading some manga.

Your manga tucked under your arm and your hands holding the bento your mother had prepared for you, you pushed all the doors standing in your way open with your foot until you were outside. You didn't even have to look for him for his red hair would have stood out no matter where he was.

Mikoto Suoh was sitting beneath a tree again and you weren't sure whether he was asleep or not. You quickly found out though when you went to sit next to him and found him staring at you when you were just about to take a bite of your lunch.

Your mouth wide open and your chopsticks hanging in the air must have made for an amusing image because the redhead decided to show you a small grin. Can somebody remind you why people tried to avoid this boy? Because he was so dangerous, right?

"You want some too, Suoh…san?" you probed.

"Mikoto."

"Eh?"

"Just call me Mikoto."

"Okay then… Mikoto… Do you want to share my lunch with me?" you asked in a second attempt to get him to warm up to you.

He just stared at you before shaking his head and going back to his seemingly asleep state.

Oh well, that meant more for you!

You were just about to take your first bite, finally, but Mikoto decided to grab your attention again. Feeling slightly frustrated, you promptly shoved the piece of fruit into your mouth and watched as he held up a piece of paper that was in a horribly wrinkled state. You put your chopsticks down and accepted it, quietly looking it over and without thinking you pressed your hand against your cheek, attracting unwanted attention to the area.

Before you could realise what was happening, Mikoto had grabbed your hand and was examining your face. You saw a sign of recognition flash through his eyes as he noticed the almost invisible swell of the side of your face and the makeup you had used to cover up the bruise.

"Who did this?" he asked with a rather calm voice and you shrugged, quickly looking back at the letter that now rested in your lap.

To your relief, Mikoto didn't pry any further and seemed to deem it too unworthy to use his precious energy to fret about it. The two of you just sat there in silence, save for your soft munching as you ate your lunch and his heavy breathing. He seemed to be sighing permanently!

And that is how you met the man who would change your life forever.


	2. Bully

**Bully**  
_Seems I've crossed the line again for being nothing more than who I am.  
So break my bones and throw your stones, we all know that life ain't fair but there is more of us, we're everywhere,_

Weeks flew by in the company of Mikoto and it made you realise just how lonely you had been, isolating yourself from everyone else in fear of getting hurt even further. That fear never did subside, because it didn't take long before eyebrows were raised at the amount of time you spent with the boy who scared everyone away with a single frustrated look.

But still, you felt quite safe when around him. Nobody would dare to even spare you a glance, so you weren't about to complain about his friendship.

You had learnt quite a few surprising things about him. For example, he looked older than that he actually was. He was only in the second year of high school while you were already in your last! Even more surprising was that he actually did have friends.

There was Izumo Kusanagi, who had already graduated and was now a barkeeper in his very own bar, Homra. You had met him when you and Mikoto went to spend a free day together walking around the city and he took you to visit the bar in search of something to drink.

That was also when you met his other friend Tatara Totsuka, who was about two years younger than Mikoto himself and still went to middle school.

The four of you had spent the rest of the day together in the bar, occasionally trying to do some homework. You helped Mikoto and Tatara with maths and English, seeing as how those were your best subjects and in return they tried to help you with your science homework but you were so hopeless that even Izumo couldn't help you.

"Haruka, wake up!" Your mother's voice interrupted your dream for the first time that morning and you immediately jumped out of your bed.

"Coming!" you replied as you swiftly fulfilled your daily routine of changing clothes and brushing your hair.

Once you arrived downstairs, you stopped dead in your tracks when you heard your father talking. Why was he still here? Wasn't he supposed to be at work?

You carefully looked around the corner into the dining room and found that he was sitting in his reserved spot at the head of the table, slowly eating his breakfast while having a conversation with your mother.

Immediately straightening your back and preparing the most polite tone you could possibly muster, you slowly entered the room.

"Good morning, father," you greeted him, relaxing slightly when you saw him merely nod in return. You weren't about to question why he was still here so you just gratefully accepted the sandwich your mother offered you who knew fully well you weren't going to sit down and have an intimate breakfast with that man, even if you were earlier than normal.

"I've heard you've been getting rather friendly with a certain boy," your father commented sternly and you froze on the spot, dreading what was going to come.

He turned to look at you but you quickly averted your gaze, not wanting to see that cool stare that you had come to hate years ago. When he realised he wasn't going to get your undivided attention, he got up and slowly made his way towards you. Another thing you had learnt was that if you would shrink back now, everything would turn out much worse.

His fingers grabbed your chin to turn your face to look at him and you felt his nails digging into your skin but you wouldn't dare show any signs of pain. Not right now, at least.

"Stay away from Mikoto Suoh," he commanded and though he spoke quietly, you could almost feel the threat that was hidden behind those words.

When you didn't reply, he lashed out, his hand coming into contact with the right side of your face. It stung and you felt as though your cheek was on fire but you didn't wince, didn't whimper, didn't show any signs of pain save for the flickering emotions in your eyes which you hid by closing them.

"Have I made myself clear?" It was a question, yet at the same time it was everything but that.

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, father."

You let out an inaudible sigh as he let your face go, at last satisfied with your response. Without another word, you glanced at your mother who was, like always, busy with something and you made your way back upstairs while quickly eating your sandwich even though you weren't hungry anymore.

Looking in the mirror, you noticed the redness of your cheek and the two spots on your chin. Your clock told you that you still had enough time to properly conceal the bruises so you immediately got started.

* * *

You couldn't concentrate on what the teacher was saying no matter how hard you tried. The thought of Mikoto sitting outside by himself kept on wriggling its way into your mind and you couldn't help but feel terribly guilty for leaving him all by himself so suddenly.

After what seemed years, lunch break finally did arrive and you decided to go and find a spot inside the school building where you couldn't look outside and find Mikoto sitting by himself. That wasn't too difficult, because of the beautiful weather many people opted to eat outside which meant there was enough room in the cafeteria for you to have lunch without being disturbed.

Or so you thought.

"Oi, this is our table," a boy you didn't recognise immediately snapped at you, furrowing his brows angrily.

"Sorry," you muttered and abruptly stood up to find somewhere else but apparently that wasn't what they had wanted either.

"Why aren't you with Suoh, anyway? Lovers' quarrel?" The other boys who had been surrounding him started to laugh at what seemed to have been meant as an insult.

"That's none of your business." More laughter.

"It's none of our business. She says it's none of our business, did you hear that?" another boy sneered and you suddenly recognised them as friends of some of the girls in your class.

Why was it such a problem to talk to Mikoto? They themselves didn't have anything to do with him, so why weren't you allowed to at least have _one_ friend?

They were making a whole scene of this ordeal and people were starting to watch. In your paranoia you inwardly accused them all of wanting to see you live a lonely, miserable life just so they had something to entertain themselves with when they were bored.

"Hey, stop ignoring us!" the first boy growled once more while grabbing the collar of your school uniform, lifting you so that only your toes were touching the ground.

And all you did was stare down at him. This sad little human being who didn't have anything better to do than to pick on outcasts who were weaker than himself wasn't worth your attention and you were prepared to make him feel that through your gaze.

"Bitch…" he grumbled and in a flash, he kicked you in the stomach, catching you off guard.

"Yoshirou!" a girl screamed which made him drop you after which you fell to your knees and started dry heaving, seeing as there wasn't anything in your stomach.

"What, you asked me to get a table?" he muttered towards her, shrinking back as he saw one of the teachers following her.

"Yes, I didn't ask you to hurt others!"

You vaguely recognised one of the girls from your class as she helped to lift you while the teacher was taking care of the boy.

There wasn't much that you could remember after that, except for the girl talking to you as she led you to the nurse's room. A deep rumbling sound came from behind you but you were mentally too far away to hear who it was or what was being said and the next thing you knew was that a strong hand started dragging you down the hall and into a room.

You came to when something cold met your face and you shot up in surprise. The first thing you noticed then was something red in the corner of your eye and you knew Mikoto was sitting next to you even before you turned your head to look at him.

"The nurse said you should rest for a while before going back to class," he said, not asking any questions about what had happened or why it had happened.

You remembered the girl – no, there had been more people from your class who had been watching worriedly. Frowning, you looked outside and let your thoughts run wild for a few seconds.

Always cautious, always accusing others of not accepting you for who you were… Maybe you had been the one at fault all this time. You had closed yourself off from the people around you in fear of a repetition of what had happened quite a while ago, but you had overlooked the possibility of people changing and growing up, accepting others for who they were after some struggling.

You had been fighting a one-sided war all this time and it took a kick to the stomach to realise it… How pathetic.

A hand on your cheek pulled you back to Earth and you noticed Mikoto's frown, his eyes trained on the hidden bruise on your face. How was it possible that he always noticed those things no matter how much you tried to hide them?

"My father likes using his hands," you replied his unspoken question. He probably hadn't asked it, thinking that you wouldn't answer him anyway.

Your words didn't surprise him, it was as if he had already expected it, but you could see something else was bothering him but you found that asking him directly wasn't fitting for the situation.

_Why didn't you come?_

"He doesn't want me to hang around you."

A stern look crossed his face and you felt the hand against your face twitch slightly. So he did have feelings…

"Don't worry. I think I'm done listening to him," you told him with a smile.

Looking over at the clock, you realise you have missed almost half your lunch break and decide you don't really feel like going back to classes afterwards.

"What do you say we skip school for today and go and visit Izumo at the bar?" you suggested and saw how Mikoto scrutinised you, probably checking you over for any signs of pain from the fight.

Not that you could actually call it a fight or anything, it had more like been an embarrassing beating of a stupid girl who had thought herself more important than she actually was. She really had needed that beating.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine, really!" You pressed your hand against his face to turn his gaze away from you before jumping off the bed, relieved to find that the pain from the kick was almost completely gone.

Now all you needed to do was grab your bag, but that wasn't really difficult because nobody seemed to be paying attention to you. Had it always been like that and had you just imagined it whenever they stared at you?

Within no time you joined up with Mikoto in front of the school building who was staring up at the sky with a longing look on his face.

"What's wrong? Don't tell me it is Mikoto Suoh's dream to be a bird in the sky?" you teased the poor boy while grabbing his hand, pulling him along to the exit of the school grounds.

He merely clicked his tongue in annoyance but there was a small smile on his face which made the noise lose all the impact it once might have had. With a shrug he replied, "Who knows."

"But if you were a bird, then I would have no one to have fun with anymore!" you exclaimed in an attempt to sound disappointed as the two of you crossed the street, heading in the direction of the bustling city.

Mikoto didn't reply and you felt your mood sink a little but didn't let it break your day. After all, you hadn't seen Izumo in about a week and you were starting to miss his cheerful demeanour. And let's not forget Tatara! His careless view on life easily rubbed off on you and whenever in his presence you could just forget about the troubles behind the doors of Homra.

"Watch out." Mikoto's voice suddenly interrupted your inner ramblings, an arm shooting out in front of you to stop you from walking onto the street. A train of cars raced by only moments later and you stared at them in confusion, your brain still not having registered what had happened.

"Th-thank you…" you mumbled when you finally understood, your hands clutching the arm floating in front of you.

You didn't let go of it even when he lowered it to his side, you didn't let go of it even when he commented on how his arm was tingling. You dared to let go of it only when you saw the doors to your favourite bar – also the only one you had ever visited – so that you could fly through the doors and greet the man standing behind the bar itself with a bear hug.

"Yes, yes, I missed you too, Haru," Izumo greeted you while patting you on the back. Hearing your nickname roll off his tongue was enough to send you into a state of bliss, but the thought of someone having a nickname for you was enough to do that to you.

Mikoto entered the shop a few moments later and merely glanced at the suggestive position you were in – leaning heavily over the counter in order to hug the bartender – for half a second before greeting his friend as well.

"So, why are you guys here? You didn't blow the school up, did you?" Izumo asked and he knew that he wouldn't have been surprised if you had nodded guiltily.

"Nah, there was just some trouble at school and I didn't feel like going to class anymore so I dragged Mikoto all the way here," you replied cheerfully, without a care in the world.

"She got kicked," Mikoto stated in his usual lazy tone, his chin resting on the palm of his hand, not seeming very impressed by the thought of one of his friends getting hurt.

"You what?" Izumo's question was direction towards you and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"I didn't get kicked. It was just… a friendly pat."

"To the stomach?" Mikoto cracked an eye open and you noticed that he was actually finding this amusing. Oh well, as long as someone was having fun.

"To the stomach."

"You almost threw up," Mikoto threw back at you and you merely shrugged.

"You what?" Izumo once more managed to find a gap in the conversation.

"It was a very enthusiastic pat to the stomach. With the knee, alright?"

The door opened and everyone turned around to see who it was, hoping it wasn't a customer they were just about the scare off.

"Hey, funny meeting you guys here!" Tatara called out before giving Mikoto a friendly punch to the shoulder, how ironic, and playfully ruffling your hair. He didn't really seem to care about the fact that everyone except Izumo was supposed to be at school right now. "What's up?"

"Haru got kicked," Mikoto replied before anyone else could and from the corner of your eye you actually caught him smirking at you, but you couldn't kill him because it was Tatara's turn to be shocked.

"You what?"

"Don't worry, it was just a friendly pat," Izumo explained, having regained his usual mischievous attitude.

"To the stomach." You were going to kill Mikoto.

"She almost threw up." And Izumo was going to follow him into the afterlife.

With a dramatic sigh, you gave up trying to stop them and decided to make the most of it.

"Don't worry, it was just a very enthusiastic pat to the stomach. With the knee."


	3. Son of Sam

**Son of Sam**  
_I might be the son of Sam, the only child of a holy man.  
I stand alone for all to see, 'cause they've never seen a war like me._

Luckily for you, the next day was Saturday so you decided to sleep in until your head almost felt like exploding from sleeping far too much. You ignored your mother calling for you to get up but it took your father's booming voice to get you to crawl out of your bed.

"Good morning," you yawned at your mother who gave a disapproving look at the clock on the wall.

"It's already past noon," she muttered as she handed you a bowl with some rice in it.

You thanked her while accepting it and greedily started to eat. Yup, there was nothing better than you mother's rice on a lazy Saturday morning.

"Is it alright if I meet up with some friends to do homework together?" you asked once you had finished your breakfast. You hoped that you mother wouldn't wonder when you had made any friends – except for Mikoto – but she just nodded with a small smile.

You thanked her once more and gave her a small peck on the cheek before hurrying upstairs to get dressed into something more presentable. Little did you know that mother knew exactly where you were going, but she found herself feeling happy that you had finally found someone to talk to, no matter who it might be.

Your father, on the other hand… She just hoped that he wouldn't find out any time soon.

Grabbing your schoolbag with your homework in it, you skipped down the stairs and waved your mother goodbye one last time.

"I don't know when I'll be home again, so don't wait for me with dinner!" you shouted at her as you passed the living room, hoping your father who was probably watching something boring on the television wouldn't stop you.

He didn't and you were outside before you knew it, breathing in the fresh air and the scent of spring. Why did the days when you had to do homework always have to be so lovely?

A cold wind suddenly picked up and you couldn't help but smile as you shrunk back into your jacket in search of some warmth. You couldn't wait to see the others again, even though you had already been with them yesterday.

* * *

"Good morning!" you yelled, scaring a few of the newer customers in the bar.

"Haru, it's already past noon." Izumo greeted you by lifting the glass he had been polishing higher into the air.

With a content sigh you went to sit in your reserved corner and suddenly realised you were the first to arrive.

"Where are the others?" you wondered out loud and placed your bag on the table to pull out some of your books.

Tatara had asked you for some help with English again and Mikoto had decided to tag along and see if it could be of any use to him as well, but nobody was here yet. Oh well, more time for you to relax!

Izumo placed a glass of water next to your schoolbooks and pointed upstairs.

"Mikoto's probably still asleep. You can go and wake him up if you want. Tatara should have been here by now, maybe there was some trouble at his house."

You nodded your head in gratitude and quickly drank your water before heading upstairs. You had known that Mikoto stayed at this place but you hadn't been up these stairs yet until now.

Izumo's voice came from downstairs, telling you in which room Mikoto was currently sleeping.

It didn't take more than a minute to find the door, but for some reason it felt like eternity. In slow motion, your hand grabbed the doorknob and opened it.

Time reverted back to normal when you saw the man in question lying on a bed, his limbs spread out across the mattress with his bare chest visible for the whole world to see. You could see the rim of his black boxers but you didn't let your eyes have any more fun than that.

Without showing any signs of being flustered you quickly walked over to the couch in the room, grabbed one of the cushions lying on it and chucked it at Mikoto with all your might.

"Huh…" was the only response you got as Mikoto slowly opened his eyes, not in the least fazed by the headshot you had given him.

"God damn it, Mikoto, cover yourself up. Not everybody thinks your body is godly enough to show it off to everyone!" you yelled as you tackled the half-naked boy who was still blinking tiredly.

He quickly regained his senses though and started to wrestle back. "It's your own fault for sneaking into my room."

Not realising that that had probably been his longest sentence since meeting him, you fell back faking insult.

"I did not sneak into your room. It is your own fault for forgetting our date,' you joked and stuck your tongue out at him.

Then you jumped off the bed and flung his clothes at him – which he captured perfectly – before disappearing through the door, down the stairs.

Downstairs you let yourself fall back into you seat and went to look through your books in search of a suitable subject to teach a student in middle school. Not much later Mikoto came sauntering down the steps. Izumo was busy with the customers and could only send a look in his direction, but it wasn't as if Mikoto could care less about that.

He let himself fall down next to you on the couch and glanced around with a frown.

"Tatara isn't here yet," you informed him without looking away from the book lying in front of you, your fingers sliding along the page as you continued your search for something interesting.

His frown deepened at that, knowing Tatara was one of those people who would always end up arriving earlier than necessary without even trying. But now Mikoto had been faster and he was normally always the last to get there, despite living in the place himself.

"_What's wrong?_" you asked him in your very best English when you noticed his expression was even unhappier than usual.

As if on cue, the door slowly opened and Tatara walked, no, _istumbled/i_ into the room. Everyone looked at him in shock as they took in his appearance: one of his sleeves was completely tattered and drenched in blood while the rest of his shirt had been torn to provide a makeshift bandage for his arm. The rest of his body was covered in bruises and scratches, but somehow he managed to keep a smile on his face, all the while claiming that everything was going to be alright.

"What happened?!" Izumo exclaimed as he grabbed the first aid kit he kept underneath the bar, quickly making his way towards Tatara who was being helped to sit down by you while Mikoto watched in silence.

"Ah, just the usual. Someone recognised me as one of Mikoto's friends-"

"Where?" Mikoto interrupted him. He didn't show any of the emotions he may or may not have been feeling, but the fact that he had clenched one of his hands to the point they were turning red was a dead giveaway.

Tatara smiled at his friend, ready to calm him down and persuade him it wasn't needed to beat those guys for revenge, but Izumo placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a meaningful look.

All you could do was stare at the boy's arm, trying to count the times that this had happened. Not only to Tatara, but also to Izumo and even Mikoto. You hadn't known them for very long but you had already forgotten how often they came in with such wounds. But now you were one of them too. You had to right to avenge them, too!

"I want to come with you," you stated, your eyes still not looking away from Tatara's now neatly bandaged arm.

Mikoto shook his head as he got up from his seat to which you clenched your jaw in frustration.

"Aren't I one of you guys now? I think I should get to see this side of you too. How can I really get to know you if I don't even know what you guys do whenever I'm not around?" you retorted angrily, not planning on giving this up any time soon.

Izumo held a hand up to stop Mikoto from responding. "I think she's right. She has the right to see who we really are, doesn't she?"

The redhead didn't reply to that and merely stared on straight ahead. Izumo took that as a yes and turned back to Tatara, asking him if he was feeling good enough to look after his bar while he was gone. The wounded boy merely nodded in response, smiling that smile of his.

"Just be careful," he called after the three of you as you left the bar with some of the customers in the background who were cheering for your group.

You felt nervous as you walked down the street and Izumo's silence was making the whole situation worse. But the silence from your left was nothing compared to the murderous aura that came from your right. Though Mikoto's expression was the same as always, the rest of his body screamed that he was ready to kill someone and you almost feared that he was actually going to do so. But then you thought back to Tatara's ragged appearance and anger flared inside of you, furious because someone could do this to another human being just because he was befriended with a certain person. Tatara was one of the most peaceful people on Earth, anyone who dared to touch him deserved to die!

People muttered as you made your way through the city towards the place Tatara had last been with his attackers, not caring if you bumped into others on your way there. Some tried to confront your group but never managed to get a reaction while the smarter people just tried to interrupt you as little as possible.

With every step you took, the dangerous aura from next to you seemed to be dying down. You were glad that he wasn't going to enter this fight with a head filled with nothing but rage, but once you rounded the corner from the busy main street into one of the side streets he seemed to recognise who he was looking for and his temper flared to what it had been a minute ago.

"Mikoto…" you started but were cut off when by Izumo who placed a hand on your shoulder, as if telling you that it was no use.

"Please stay here." And with that, he quickly joined Mikoto on his walk to the other side of the street.

Though they did nothing in particular to attract any attention, the group of men turned around to look the approaching men.

"Ah, if it isn't Mikoto Suoh. What a coincidence, we were just talking about you! Well, more about that poor friend of y-"

The man couldn't even finish his sentence as Mikoto's fist slammed into his stomach, making him double over with pain. Before anyone could react, Izumo had grabbed the heads of two of the smaller group members, smashing them together which immediately rendered them unconscious.

As if a sign had been given, the remaining men – still quite a few – jumped Mikoto and Izumo at the same time. Young and inexperienced, the sudden display of teamwork caught the boys off guard and before you could blink a complete brawl had been started. All you could do was stare in horror as blood spatters flew about, men howling in pain and yelling as if that would make their punches stronger.

But suddenly one of them decided it had been enough and grabbed a knife, striking out at someone you couldn't see. You couldn't stop yourself from yelling in fright when you saw him pull his arm back, a little blood now dripping from his blade. Unfortunately, the noise you had made caught the attention of one of the men who was standing outside of the group in an attempt to regain some energy.

He smirked, thinking he had found some easy prey, and started to make him way towards you. You stepped backwards until your back hit a wall of bricks and slid to the ground as if that would somehow help you escape. You held your hands up in front of you to try and protect you from his fists.

When the punch never came, you looked up just in time to watch the man topple over, a familiar knife sticking out of his back. Mikoto stood behind him, an empty look on his face as his eyes met yours before he turned back to kick someone who had been trying to sneak up on him in the stomach. The new attacker groaned in pain and slumped to the ground.

Izumo himself was done with his share of kick-ass and you watched him wipe away some of the blood that was coming from a small knife wound on his cheek.

"Ah, let me help you with that!" You got up and quickly ran over to where he was standing while pulling a handkerchief from your pockets which you then carefully pressed against his face.

As you did so, you took in your surroundings. The bastards who had dared to touch Tatara were now lying all over the place, some groaning in pain, others unconscious and one of them even dead. On the one hand you felt kind of proud that you had found friends who would go to such lengths to avenge their friends, but on the other hand you were afraid. What would happen to you if you decided to do the wrong thing? Was it even safe to be near people who could do this to others?

The same silence hung around your group on your way back to the bar, but this time you were the one responsible for it. Izumo tried to spark a conversation with you and you refused to reply with anything that gave him the chance to talk much more. With Mikoto's murderous intent satisfied, you felt a little less nervous but still couldn't feel quite comfortable in between these men.

Tatara greeted you happily once you arrived at the bar, already looking much better. Mikoto immediately excused himself without taking the time to check for any serious wounds, claiming that he was tired and wanted to sleep again, while Izumo replaced Tatara behind the bar.

That left you and Tatara to do what you had actually planned to do all day: homework. But you didn't feel like it, your enthusiasm to show off one of the very few things you could actually do completely drained. Tatara immediately noticed this and found that even though you hadn't been all that involved in the fight, you were the one it had affected the most.

"I should've known that going with them wasn't a clever idea." He sighed and ruffled your hair, making you feel three years younger than him instead of older.

He placed an arm around you and pulled you towards him in a hug.

"I know what you might be thinking, but you should let it go. You've been accepted into our group, that is enough proof and no matter what you do, you'll never be able to get on their bad side. You might not be completely safe by his side, but I promise you, Mikoto will do his best to protect you," he explained in his soft voice and managed to make you forget all your previous thoughts.

You trusted Tatara and knew he wouldn't lie for the sake of others and so you decided to believe him and throw all your doubts out of the window. You were all friends now and friends tried to protect each other as much as possible.

Tatara watched your transformation from a small, gloomy girl into your usual cheerful and proud self.

"_Alright! Let's do this!_" you exclaimed in English, pumping a fist into the air in excitement.

Remembering what you had been planning to teach the boy, you immediately got started, even surprising Tatara himself with your sudden mood switch and your readiness to help him with his homework.

"_S…sankyeu…_" he tried but gave up when he saw your frown.

"No, no, no! It's with a 'th', not an 's'! _Th! Thank you!"_

And that was the day that Tatara learned that you were even fiercer with teaching than Mikoto was with fighting.


	4. Sin with a Grin

**Sin with a Grin**  
_These scars I scratch, I tear, are there under my skin, where you've always been  
Thank you for reminding me to sin with a grin_

That is how you continued the next couple of weeks. You would do your best to better your results at school – but to no avail – and to keep your contact with the boys to a minimum during the weeks. Except for Mikoto of course, with whom you always ate your lunch at school. Then during the weekends you would go to Homra with the excuse of 'doing homework with some friends from school'.

Speaking of which, since your paranoia of getting bullied had disappeared almost completely, some of your classmates had started trying to befriend you. One of the girls had even told you that since you had become friends with Mikoto, you seemed much friendlier, to which you responded by blushing heavily.

But in the blink of the eye, your whole rhythm had been disrupted when your father announced that during the two weeks of spring break, he was going to visit family in one of the rural areas of town and you and your mother were to come with him. That meant no contact with the rest of the world until you got home again. There was no way of going back for a few hours, because the only way to get anywhere from that shithole was by car and, unfortunately, you didn't have a driver's licence, or a car.

But if there was anything worse than a family reunion, you did not yet know of it. Your grandparents and one of your aunts and her husband and children lived there and they could easily make you want to be in the company of your father all by yourself if that meant you could get away from them.

Well, your grandparents weren't the horrible ones. You always did wonder how it was possible that your father was who he was with such lovely parents. They always showered you with presents whenever you came over and you always had lots of fun whenever your grandfather would take you around on his tractor or when you helped your grandmother to cook dinner.

But then there was that aunt of yours: she was just as bad as your father, but at least your father tried to keep his horrible side a secret. Your aunt would openly insult her children and the worst part was that they would fight back. Her husband would just sit by and watch it all happen with a sheepish look on his face which made you feel sad for him. How could he have fallen for such a woman in the first place?

After those fights your father would always manage to show how 'proud' he was of you, because you never struggled against his judgement and because of that your aunt disliked you, to put it mildly. She would always try to rub that in by making some nasty comment about how her children were doing so well at school.

Two weeks later, on the last Friday of the break, on the trip back home, you found yourself feeling much more tired than before the holiday. You hoped that the cursed part of your family would die out very soon by some deadly mutation that only affected evil genes.

The very moment you arrived back at your own house, you didn't even bother unpacking your bags and immediately left for Homra, only telling your parents that you wanted to enjoy the rest of your free time with your friends from school.

"You're back!" Tatara almost cried in happiness as he semi-tackled you, pulling you into a bear-hug.

"Owowowow!" you yelped at the pain his bone-crushing hug was causing you and it took all of Izumo's strength to separate the boy from your body and even then he would not let go of you, clinging to your arm as he pulled you down to sit.

After quickly glancing about you found Mikoto was sitting on a stool at the bar, his back turned towards you. The sight pained you slightly; you had been away for two weeks and had missed the redhead most of all, but when you return you find that he couldn't care less.

"You want to wake Mikoto up?" Tatara inquired, pulling you out of your thoughts. Wake him up? So… he was asleep right now? You could almost kill yourself in embarrassment for your previous thoughts.

Waking him up wasn't necessary, however, for he turned around as if hearing his name had been enough. He looked at you and you saw a ghost of a smile on his face. Butterflies fluttered around in your stomach but something just didn't feel right and the poor creatures died down before they could fully take form.

Something was wrong. Something was different. Something had changed…

"What happened?" you voiced your concerns, giving the three boys a stern look to tell them you weren't going home with anything but a proper explanation.

"Oh, you mean this?" Izumo asked with a big smile on his face as he watched your eyes widen in shock.

"Wh… How?" you stuttered as you stared at the flames that were licking at his arms. He didn't seem to be feeling any pain, so how…?

"While you were gone, Mikoto was blessed with the powers of a King, from the Dresden Slate. We are his vassals and got these cools powers," Tatara explained, excitement rolling off him in waves.

Mikoto snorted at that and Izumo joined him with a laugh.

"Cool powers, says the one who flipped out and almost burned someone's arm off," Izumo teased the boy.

Tatara pouted childishly before retorting. "As if you were doing any better."

You could only stare at them as they continued their bickering, faintly catching something about how Mikoto had controlled the flames perfectly fine from the very beginning. What was the Dresden Slate? Kings? Were there any others like this, then?

"Want to join us?" Mikoto's voice rumbled from next to you and you snapped your head to the side only to get a nice view of his jaw, his chin resting on your shoulder.

And since when was Mikoto one to get so close to anybody?

You jumped away from him and turned to see him holding his hand out at you. You examined it carefully, as if it could explode any minute now, and shook your head tentatively.

"I can't. Not right now, anyway. My father would kill me-"

"He doesn't have to know," Mikoto interrupted you. He stared into your eyes, hoping you would change your mind. You were involved with him now after all and he wanted you to have some way of protecting yourself if it was needed.

But you continued to shake your head and felt guilty when you saw the disappointment flash through his eyes. You felt as if he had just confessed his love for you and you had shot him down.

"Someday, I promise." You tried your best to smile at him and your heart jumped in relief when you noticed the corners of his lips twitch upwards. Had he really missed you this much?

"Oh well," Izumo started with a sigh. "Let's go somewhere to celebrate our reunion before you two decide to find yourselves a room."

Tatara could only laugh at your red face while Izumo went to collect his coat.

Outside the bar you realised that despite being slightly freaked out by the boys' new 'talents', you felt quite safe walking in the warm aura they seemed to emit. While Tatara and Izumo discussed which bar they should visit, you tried to have a conversation with Mikoto, sharing your stories of your horrible aunt with him while he listened in silence.

Something you soon noticed was how he would glance at you more often than he normally would when talking to you. But then we would quickly look around, not shy towards you but cautious about his surroundings.

"What about this one?" Tatara asked no one in particular, pointing at a fancy-looking shop at the end of the street.

Your stomach growled loudly in response and your face turned bright red in embarrassment once more. "Maybe we should find something simple that sells food?"

So you ended up getting ramen from a small stand at the side of the street. Izumo even paid for it, which managed to make everything better.

It was still rather light outside, but the sudden coolness signalled that it was slowly becoming night. Even so, you didn't feel any cold while eating your ramen, surrounded by the new flames of your boys.

"Maybe we should go somewhere fun together, in the next break," you mumbled once you had finished your food.

The others laughed softly and Izumo replied, "You sound as if everything has changed."

Staring at the ground, you shrugged. Hadn't it changed then? Was it just inside your head, or could they not yet see it, with their new abilities?

"Hey, is anybody still hungry? I'm going to buy something else." Izumo easily changed the subject and lightened the mood as Tatara immediately jumped up, ready for seconds.

The two of them went back to the stand, leaving you alone with Mikoto, who somehow was still eating his first cup of ramen.

"Sorry for ruining the mood," you apologised, but he merely lifted his shoulders, not seeming very bothered by anything at the moment.

That changed however, when he got up to throw his cup away into a dustbin that was situated farther down the street, leaving you by yourself for a minute or two. Before he could return, a group of men strolled by, most of them looking rather bored.

They seemed to notice you and you smiled bravely at them, telling yourself that not _all_ men are disgusting pigs. That theory was destroyed when one of them opened his mouth.

"Hello there, cutie. You alone here?" he asked you in what probably should have been his most seductive voice.

You shook your head, trying to find the boys who had been here with you seconds ago. "N-no, I'm here with some friends."

"What, how could they leave a little girl like you all by herself?" another exclaimed, seeming pretty upset by this.

A third man grabbed your hand and softly pulled you towards the group. "Why don't you join us? We're not going to hurt you, I promise."

You quickly shook your head again and tried to free yourself from the man's grip. This angered him slightly and he tightened his hold on your arm.

"O-oi!" one of the men called out, causing the rest of them to turn around in curiosity.

Mikoto was standing before them, his eyes glowing strangely as he glared at the men.

Someone seemed to recognise him, for he quickly started to apologise to the redhead. "Please forgive us! We didn't know what we were doing. We might have had too much to drink, you know?"

Most of the others agreed with him and they swiftly tried to leave, but the one holding you didn't seem to like that at all.

He muttered some obscene swearword and pulled at your hand once – you weren't sure if it was on purpose or just an accident – before releasing you, but it was still enough to make you stumble over your own feet.

You hissed in pain as you felt your knees scrape against the ground and you didn't even have to look to confirm that the thin fabric of your jeans were now decorated with tears in the knee-area.

No one seemed to have noticed your fall – except for the one who shouldn't have seen it.

Mikoto's hand flew up to a random neck that had been trying to escape, easily lifting the man who was a little bigger than himself from the floor. The man yelled in pain when the hand holding him was suddenly engulfed by red waves, the flames slowly eating away the flesh under his jaw.

The redhead didn't let go of the man, not when the body he was holding slackened, not when the rest of the men started yelling in anger and panic, not when he looked up to stare you dead in the eye where he could see your fear, not even when he may or may not have realised that what you were afraid of was _him_.

The only thing that managed to pull him from his trance was when someone ripped the body from his hands and went to stand in front of him in an attempt to confront him, maybe to distract him so the others could get away.

"What's going on?" Tatara and Izumo both cried out at the same time once they finally returned.

"He freaked out. Those guys, they kind of annoyed me a bit but when they saw him they were going to leave… But one of them accidentally made me fall and he just freaked out," you replied without letting your eyes stray from Mikoto's enraged form.

His aura seemed to be a huge flame encasing his body, burning everything surrounding him except himself. The remaining men stood in front of him, petrified, watching his every move as he slowly made his way to the man standing in front of him.

"He's not just going to hurt them. He's out to kill them! Izumo, Tatara, you guys have that skill too, can't you help them?!" you begged them, shaking their arms in fright but your heart sank at the pained looks on their faces.

"We can't. Don't want to risk getting attacked by him right now."

You turned back towards the happening and found that people were starting to gather around the fight. If Mikoto really couldn't distinguish between good and bad, then this was the worst place for this to take place.

Meanwhile, Mikoto grabbed the collar of his challenger and punched him with all his might. His enemy didn't even try to fight back.

"Mikoto, stop."

In surprise and ready to defend himself, he quickly turned around and punched whomever had been standing behind him. He blinked slowly when he saw his fist collide with your cheek, someone in the background calling your name as you twirled before landing on your knees again.

This somehow broke the spell on the other men who proceeded to run into an alley in an attempt to escape, but Mikoto didn't even spare you a second glance before going after them as fast as he could. You yourself didn't even think as you quickly got up and followed them, ignoring your headache and the voices of your friends yelling your name.

Apparently Mikoto had already caught up to the slowest member of the group, who was curled up on the ground, trying to survive the kicks Mikoto was giving him. You could feel your stomach twist painfully when you saw the wicked grin on the 'King's' face.

"Mikoto!" you yelled and grabbed his hand to capture his attention.

You hissed as his flesh seemed to burn yours and cursed yourself for not accepting the powers he had offered you only hours ago.

He seemed to hold himself back from doing anything to you and ran off after the two remaining men. You didn't allow yourself any time to rest and tried your best to follow him, which ended up being easier than you had expected for in his rage, the redhead kept stumbling over boxes and dustbins. But every time you got a little too close to him, he would throw a punch or a kick your way. Sometimes he would hit you but sometimes he could barely even graze your body.

Finally the narrow paths ended and you entered a wider space that led towards three other alleyways. Mikoto stood in the middle, looking around wildly as though he didn't know which one he should choose.

"Mikoto, please calm do-" you started, but you couldn't finish your sentence for he slammed his fist into your stomach.

The shock caused you to fall face-first to the ground. Apparently you had pissed him off now because he pressed his fist against your back. It wasn't a punch, it was just a light dab on the small of your back, but the result was immediate: searing pain through your whole body as if someone had just set your insides on fire.

That night was the first time you actually screamed in pain. You had never known that falling unconscious could ever be so relieving.

Once you had stopped writhing about, Mikoto seemed to snap back into reality only to find your still form. He slowly realised what he had done and he couldn't stop his breath from hitching in his throat as he carefully turned you around, relieved to find your chest still going up and down.

Footsteps came from one of the alleys and it didn't take long before Izumo and Tatara joined him by your side. They noticed his look and sighed as the stress in their bodies vanished.

"Mikoto," Izumo started sternly, grabbing the redhead's chin to lift his face. "This isn't just your fault, okay? You had to snap eventually to adjust to the flames, do you understand? Haru shouldn't have gotten involved, you weren't being yourself. Got it?"

Mikoto didn't reply, he merely stood up with you in his arms and started to make his way towards the nearest hospital.


	5. Second Chance

**Second Chance  
**_Tell my mother, tell my father:  
I've done the best I can to make them realize this is my life, I hope they understand.  
I'm not angry, I'm just saying... Sometimes goodbye is a second chance._

"You must choose. Them, or us."

You could only stare at your father, unable to find a proper answer to his question. No, not his question, his _order_. Was he seriously expecting you to choose between your friends and your parents? If anyone else would have asked you, you would have found the question easy to answer. You would have chosen your friends immediately.

But this, this was entirely different… Your father was planning on throwing you out of his house, _your home_, even your _family_ depending on your answer. And really, after these thoughts had raced through your mind, was someone who actually expected you to choose between two very important factors in your life someone who was worthy of being chosen?

The smug look on your father's face told you that he expected you to choose him and if not him, then your mother. Your family. Because he thought that you didn't have anywhere else to go… But he was wrong.

Your eyes wandered from his face to that of your mother who was standing behind that monster. The very moment your gaze met hers, she looked away and you knew what she was thinking. She didn't want you to leave, but she couldn't win a fight against your father, or so she thought. You knew she was never going to try, not even for her daughter's sake, so you hastily made your decision based on these emotional thoughts running through your mind.

"Then I'll pack my stuff."

If the anger and sadness of being thrown out of your own home hadn't been streaming through your body, you might have felt victorious about how you had wiped that cocky grin off your father's face, but right now you had to do your best not to burst out in tears as you made your way up the stairs, past your mother who was staring at you in disbelief.

The bag that you had used for your family trip was still lying on your bed, unpacked and ready to go off on another journey. There were still some things that you couldn't fit into that one, though, so you had to grab another bag in which you stuffed some more things. You realised that you didn't have a lot of personal things that made your room yours. That made leaving it a lot easier than expected. The most that you had were a few stuffed animals, some books and manga.

Back downstairs, everybody was gone, probably doing their usual things as if nothing had happened, but just as you opened the front door and wanted to step through it, your mother appeared behind you once more.

"Haruka..." she started, but she didn't get much further than that.

I don't want you to leave? Please stay here? I'll talk to your father so you can keep meeting up with your friends?

Was that was she was thinking? Then why didn't she just say it out loud? It was at moments like this that you just hated your mother so much, even though you knew that she couldn't help it. Or maybe she just felt that it was her duty as mother to make it look like she actually gave a fuck? Maybe she'd be happy if the girl who used to make her life so difficult was gone.

When your mother didn't continue her sentence, you turned and left the house without another word.

But now... Where were you supposed to go?

In the sudden onslaught of panic, of the thought that you no longer had a home to return to, your brain just could not think of any logical places to go to so you just let your legs lead you to wherever they felt like going.

You ended up sitting on a bench in a park you used to visit frequently with your parents when you were small. Memories flooded your mind as you looked around, but you would not let yourself cry just yet.

When was it that everything changed? _Why_ had it all changed? Hadn't it been when your father started pressuring you to be better at school, so that you could go to a good university, meet an honourable man who wouldn't bring shame to your family, have normal children and lead a 'normal, happy' life

Thinking back to this morning, you somehow managed to find it funny that a day could change so much in just a few hours. You had woken up in a hospital and had a good talk with Mikoto about last night... Everything had seemed to be going so well back then, but then you got home, ready to explain what had happened, and _that_ happened. You felt like this morning had taken place weeks ago.

* * *

~ A few hours ago ~

You opened your eyes, just to find yourself lying in a white room. It didn't take long before you realised that you had been brought to a hospital. When you managed to sit up, you saw Mikoto and Izumo were standing by the window, talking to each other. They were talking too quietly for you to understand what was going on, but they stopped when they saw you had woken up anyway.

"Good morning, sunshine," Izumo greeted you with a small smile on his face. You hadn't seen that smile very often, but normally it meant something serious was going on. There wasn't anything wrong with you, right? Had something happened to the others while you had been out of it?

"What's going on?" you asked with a worried frown on your forehead, but Izumo quickly smoothed them away by ruffling your hair. _That_ was something he only did when he was cheerful, but then again, when _wasn't_ Izumo cheerful?

Excluding whenever something in his bar was being endangered.

"Nothing, nothing! You know what, I'll go and get a nurse now that you're awake, okay? She said that she'd check you over one last time to make sure everything was fine once you get up, which you have. But she said that the chance that you'd have to stay here any longer is very small so you're probably allowed to go home soon," he quickly informed you and you nodded in response after which he disappeared through the door.

That left just you and Mikoto. You figured that Tatara was home, doing the homework he had probably been avoiding during the previous weeks. What goes around, comes around.

The first thing you noticed was that the redhead wouldn't look you in the eye, something that frustrated you from the very moment you saw it. If there was anybody who dared to look right at someone and tell them the bold truth, then it was Mikoto. So if he were the one averting his gaze, then something had to be really, really wrong.

You continued to try and catch his attention for the following few minutes and when you succeeded, even if it was just for a split second, you couldn't help but sharply draw in some breath in surprise. You knew how people seemed to find Mikoto unreadable and therefore a little scary, but as you managed to look into his eyes you could see it all right there.

Guilt, shame, anger, regret... It was all there, in those beautiful eyes of his. He was hating himself. And what for? Because stupid you had to follow him when you obviously shouldn't have?

You jumped out of the unfamiliar bed and strode over to the redhead, while noting somewhere at the back of your mind that your body didn't feel as beaten as you had expected. You had had enough of how he deliberately kept his distance from you, as if he were afraid to break down once more.

He even tried to take a step back as you approached him but you grabbed his wrists to stop him from doing just that

"Stop it," you commanded him.

"Stop what?" he replied and broke eye contact again, but you placed your hands against his cheeks and forced him to look back at you.

"Stop _that._ Stop hiding from me."

When he didn't respond you just took a step closer to him and kept him still as you pressed yourself against him. You forced his arms around your waist, lifted your shirt a little and awkwardly pressed his hand against the bandaged spot on your back.

"You've been marked forever, by me. I'm a so-called 'King' now, they are supposed to protect their vassals not hurt them."

"But you shouldn't distance yourself from them. Look, you're touching me and everything's fine. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right? We've all learned from this, okay?" To emphasise the point you wanted to make, you pressed his hand firmer against your back, until he no longer tried to pull it back. "And anyway, I'm not your vassal yet."

You smiled at him, trying your best to cheer him up. It seemed to have the exact opposite effect instead and he wrapped his arms tighter around your body, pulling you into the first hug he had ever given you. Not that you had ever expected to receive one from someone like him in the first place.

He buried his face in the crook of your neck and you stood perfectly still, not knowing what the hell you were supposed to do. You decided to softly pat him on the back in an attempt to calm him down, or something like that.

"You were so afraid," he mumbled and you had to do your best to ignore the tickle of his breath against your neck. "Not of those guys, but of _me._"

Slowly relaxing, you remembered that you _had_ been afraid of him, even before what had happened. You had been afraid of all three of the boys because of the flames hidden inside of them. But seeing their leader like this made you realise that you weren't the only one who felt that way. They weren't planning on raging uncontrollably, using their powers for useless causes. They weren't proud of it, couldn't control it properly yet. You had only thought of what it could mean for _you_, not what was going on for _them_.

"I'm sorry. I was being selfish, but I understand now. I promise I'm not afraid of you anymore," you told him the truth, hoping he would believe you.

He pulled back a little to look you in the eye and when he saw the determination in them he deemed what you had said to be true and hugged you one last time before letting you go for good.

It was then that you realised what had just happened and your face decided to burn as if it had spontaneously decided to become Mikoto's vassal, to which Mikoto himself revealed a smile, though it was more a smirk than a smile.

If you hadn't been stunned by the sight of him finally laughing, you probably would have hit him as hard as you could in embarrassment.

Izumo entered the room not much later, happy to see his King being his usual self once more, maybe even a little happier than usual, together with the nurse he had been talking about. She shooed the men out of the room, who yelled that there wasn't anything to be seen as they fled, to which you replied by screaming you'd cut their balls off.

The nurse concluded that everything was fine and that you could go home, though a few burn marks would remain for the rest of your life. That was, unless you felt it necessary to undergo surgery to use skin from another part of your body to repair the burnt flesh.

You couldn't help but feel proud that you had been given a mark by the Red King, a sign that you had met the man in 'battle', that you had felt his fist and that you had managed to survive.

But you were probably over thinking that part a bit too much.

* * *

~ Present ~

You looked up and found that it had already gotten pretty dark. You pulled out your phone and were surprised by the fact that it was past ten in the evening. Without even knowing it, you had been sitting on this bench for the past few hours, just thinking things over.

Though it might have gotten very late in the meanwhile, all that thinking had helped you clear your mind a little and you knew where you were supposed to go now. So you shoved the reappearing thoughts of your 'banishment' to the back of your mind and got up, grabbing your bags as you did so.

It had also gotten quite cold so you closed your jacket and pulled your hood over your head to warm yourself a little before you started your trip to Izumo's bar. While walking there, you found that making your way through the city was quite difficult at night when you were all by yourself. However, the thought of how lucky you had to be when it came to someone still being awake in the bar to open the door for you was keeping you busier than the scariness of a city in the dark.

But first you had to get there safely. It wasn't as if you were scared, that wasn't the problem here, it was just that you didn't feel like ending up in hospital again. Despite the fact that he had gone too far, you were still thankful for how Mikoto had tried to stand up for you in his own way. But now his absence only meant that you were an easier prey to some dangerous people who always seemed to be lurking around.

The bright lights of the bar – the only haven left at that moment – welcomed you as you walked into the street and for a moment you could almost kick yourself for being so stupid. Homra was a _bar _and _bars_ are always open so late in the night. How could you have forgotten such a not-so-trivial fact?

It seemed to be pretty late for you, but apparently it was still far too early for others for the bar was still unoccupied. Save for Izumo, of course, who was whistling an unfamiliar tune as you entered the building.

Izumo stopped doing whatever he had been doing prior to your arrival and blinked a few times, as if he weren't sure whether you were actually there or if he had started to hallucinate.

"Haru?" he asked in concern and he stepped from behind the bar to greet you properly.

Even as he gently placed his hands on your shoulder to gain your attention, you wouldn't allow yourself to shed a single tear and forced yourself to smile. Of course Izumo saw that it was fake. He didn't ask anything though and waited for you to start talking about it yourself whenever you were ready.

You had to swallow back whatever emotions were bubbling up as you suddenly remembered why you were even here. You didn't want to show Izumo how much you were hurting, you didn't want to make him worry. At least not right now, like this. He had enough on his plate as it was with his 'aura', as they called it, and you didn't want to add anything to that burden.

Your 'preparations' to tell him your story somehow managed to take so long that you noticed some movement from the corner of your eye and without looking you knew you had woken Mikoto. At least you wouldn't have to repeat yourself three times, now.

"I got kicked out," you said. Plain, emotionless. You even managed to throw in a shrug to emphasise your indifference.

Izumo stared at you in disbelief. You didn't know whether it was because of your attitude or because of what you had said.

"What? Why?" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air in slight despair.

When you didn't answer fast enough for his liking, he grabbed your shoulders once more and started to shake you softly. "What happened?"

You bit your lip and shrugged again. You felt guilty for not showing him how you really felt but at the same time you were angry with how you were actually rethinking your attempts to retain yourself from given him more trouble to be concerned with.

"My father told me to choose between him and you. Of course I chose you," you responded and this time you managed to squeeze out a genuine smile.

Izumo let out a sigh as his shoulders sagged and he pressed his hand against his face, effectively hiding it from you. Was he mad at you?

"And so I was wondering… If I could, you know, stay here for a while? But just until I find something else and I promise I won't be too much of a hassle to take care of!" you started rambling. Fear was coursing through your veins as you watched Izumo rub his temples with his hand, hoping he wasn't going to refuse your request.

"Of course you can stay here, you idiot! For as long as you like, until you die if that's what you want. But you can't tell me that losing your parents like that doesn't affect you in any way!"

You stared at the ground, not knowing what you were supposed to say. Tell him the truth anyway or try your best to reassure him that you were fine, to just stick with your plan?

"Of course it affects me. But I don't want to lose you guys, even if it costs me my parents, alright? And anyway, that bastard had it coming, thinking he could treat me like a dog that was dependant on him for everything." You decided to give him part of the truth because you felt that he deserved at least that. "But please don't worry about me. Promise me you won't be having any sleepless nights because of this, okay?"

Izumo sighed once more and shook his head afterwards, a small smile evident on his face. "You idiot. You're worth every single sleepless night I have because of you. Anyway, I've got a room you could have but it needs to get cleaned out first. Mikoto's room has a couch in it, you could sleep on that for tonight?"

You nodded, thanked him for everything and wished him a good night before heading upstairs. Mikoto had returned to his room but his door was open so you knew that he was expecting you.

When you entered, you saw that Mikoto was already lying in his bed, his back turned to you. You quietly closed the door behind you and slowly placed your bags on the ground. Then you just stood there and let out a long sigh, all the tension slowly leaving your body. Mikoto turned around to look at you and the moonlight that was pouring in through the gap between the curtains fell over his head, highlighting it in a weird way.

His face was passive but in his eyes, they seemed to be shining in the light, you could see that concern again. You didn't even bother wondering how you managed to notice it anymore and just stood there, not knowing what to do.

You couldn't hold yourself back as the tears started to stream down your cheeks all of a sudden. You weren't the only one surprised by this, even Mikoto sat up when he saw them glinting in the luminance of the moon.

A sob racked your body and that appeared to be too much for the redhead. He got up and strode over to you, pressed his fingers against your cheek as if to stop your crying with the gesture. When that didn't seem to work, he pulled you into a warm embrace, making weird noises in an attempt to shush you, but you weren't sure if he even realised that he was making those sounds.

He slowly guided you to his bed, the couch completely being forgotten, and helped you remove some of your clothes to make a fitting substitute pyjama. Once he had forced you to lie down, he covered you in blankets and joined you there. You curled up into a ball against his chest and continued your weeping as he stroked your back until you eventually fell asleep.

Just before you fell asleep, you wondered about how it was possible that something like this, crying in the presence of someone else without talking about anything, could make you feel so much better.

* * *

~ The next morning ~

The day had already started in a rather weird way when you woke up only to find yourself alone, with the memories of sleeping in the same bed as one of your friends. One of your male friends. One of your male friends you may or may not have been developing slight feelings for. But maybe you were just thinking that in your moment of weakness because he seemed to be a suitable person to show your emotions to. After all, he acted like he was the only one around here who wasn't all that bothered with the King-stuff. Not like Tatara seemed all that fazed by it though, it was just that he was your little brother and he was the last person you would want to worry with your problems.

Anyway, the day had already started in a weird way. So when you went downstairs, instead of avoiding Mikoto like you actually wanted to, you confronted him and told him something that surprised him more than you thought it would.

"Let me join you." It wasn't a request; you weren't going to let him say no.

Now that you weren't bound to your parents any longer, you were free to do whatever you wanted. It was time that you got a second chance at your life and you should give these guys a second chance too. And so you thought it was about time to become a certain someone's vassal.

Still looking a little surprised, Mikoto held his hand out at you, examining you with an expectant look in his eyes. You smiled brightly at him and took it, gasping softly at the sudden flow of warmth through your body as you did so.


	6. Adrenaline

INFO! In this chapter I will be introducing an original character, Ayame Munakata, who belongs to SmileRen. Obviously, she will be family with Reisi Munakata. I hope this does not put off any readers! Personally I think it might add a bit of a twist to the story, but if I say anything more than that, I might spoil my own story~ 3

* * *

**Adrenaline  
**_Bloodshot against the clear blue sky, I think the well is running dry.  
Dead scared because I'm fearless in the head, because the needle's in the red.  
I can't lie, I need a shot again, that sweet adrenaline._

Why did everything always have to end up being completely different than expected?

You had thought that Mikoto and the others were just dealing with something that might be able to break free if they let their feelings take control for even a second, that they had to be on guard every single minute of the day.

It ended up being much worse than that.

Instead of an aura, it felt more like a flame had nestled inside your stomach, tickling your insides whenever your mind had a free moment. At times it even felt like it was trying to grow, to gain access to your limbs and set something on fire.

It was impossible to pay attention to anything anyone was saying at school like this. Not even when a new student was being introduced.

"Hello, students. This is Munakata Ayame, she is going to graduate from high school this year with you guys so please treat her well."

The name of a new student managed to catch your attention, even with your current problems blazing with full power, and you looked up to find a girl standing at the front of the class. She shyly pushed against the glasses that hid her eyes as she rubbed a pattern in the ground with her foot.

"P-please take good care of me," she then said with a small bow, a small blush appearing on her face as she did so.

The rest of the class mumbled something in return and the girl, Munakata, smiled in relief. She was then given a seat by the teacher and of course she got the empty table next to yours.

"Nice to meet you," she whispered at you and you smiled at her in acknowledgement.

The teacher had already started his lesson so you pulled out your notebook and showed her your name that you had written on it. She grinned at you, happy that she now knew at least one of her classmates' names.

You turned your head away so that you could go back to staring outside, clenching your fists tightly in an attempt to push the fire inside of you down a little while trying your best to listen to what was being said.

* * *

The chime of the bell signalled that it was – finally – time for lunch. You turned to look at your new neighbour, deciding that you might as well get to know her a little before heading over to meet up with Mikoto. Munakata quickly finished jotting down notes of the previous lesson before straightening her back to look at you with a small smile on her face.

It was then in that moment that you realised something rather strange. This girl, she looked to be much younger than you. "Munakata-san, how old are you?"

Another blush appeared on her cheeks and she looked down at her lap in embarrassment. Then she softly replied, "A-ah, I'm sixteen…"

"Sixteen?!" you exclaimed in surprise. She was a year younger than Mikoto, how could she get placed in a class higher than him?

Munakata nodded before explaining. "You see… I… I was home schooled. And the admission tests, apparently I did them too well to be placed in the second year…"

"That's impressive. Believe me when I say that, because if I would do those admission tests again I would probably get placed in the first class or something."

She laughed a little at that. "It can't possibly be that bad…"

"You don't want to know," you replied with a weak grin. "So, you were home schooled? Your parents must have a lot of free time then, right?"

Munakata held her hands up and shook her head. "I live with my brother."

So she wasn't a girl of many words, alright then. Still, you weren't quite sure how you should continue this conversation. Munakata was back to scribbling in her book so you were the one responsible for your chat's life, but you didn't know what you could ask her about without risking to make her feel uncomfortable.

"You… You have a brother, then? That's nice, I've always wanted to have an older brother too." Was what you decided to talk about and you were glad to see that you had made the right choice when Munakata's shoulders slumped slightly in relaxation.

"Both our mothers died and our father had to leave so we live together. He wanted to home school me."

So he was her half brother… You nodded in understanding and knew you weren't one to question her situation right now.

"Well, don't worry, you're not the only one with a complicated story. I live with some of my friends," you told her in an attempt to reassure her that she wasn't the only weird person out there.

"What happened?" she asked carefully, not sure whether she might be acting too curious.

You just shrugged lightly. "I couldn't stay with my parents any longer and went to live at one of my friends' bar because he had some spare rooms."

The thought of the bar randomly reminded you of your aura and as if on cue, the warmth from inside of you returned stronger than before. You clenched your fist to stop its trembling but you couldn't distract yourself from the sudden dizziness that made the world spin.

"Are you alright?" Munakata's voice came from far away even though she was sitting next to you.

When your stomach started to churn uncomfortably you jumped up and dashed out of the room, leaving Munakata behind with a surprised look on her face. It didn't take her long to snap out of it and she quickly followed you.

In the meanwhile you had arrived at the toilets just in time for you to empty the contents of your stomach there. When nothing was left to leave your body, you flushed the toilet and stood up again, your whole body trembling uncontrollably.

"Shouta-san?" Munakata asked when she entered the room to find you leaning against one of the doors.

You shook your head, indicating that you didn't know and before you knew it a cold hand was pressed against your forehead. "You've got a fever!"

When you didn't reply, she grabbed your hands to get your attention but she winced and immediately let go of them when she felt their heat. You stared at her with wide eyes and noticed the pain evident on her face before she quickly placed her hands under a stream of cool water.

"I need to go," you mumbled and fled away from the toilets, almost hearing the hissing of something cold meeting something hot when you opened the door to the hall.

Munakata didn't follow you, having a vague feeling that you had to be alone for this and instead she decided to look at her hands as the small burn marks slowly disappeared.

* * *

You didn't know what had happened but when you regained control of your body, you were standing in the middle of Shizume City. You didn't stop walking, however, and just went on, your mind racing wildly as you tried to figure out what you were supposed to do.

If you didn't do anything about this, then you felt that you might explode from heat. Your clothes stuck to your body in an uncomfortable way and you feared that they would somehow managed to catch fire.

Was this what the others had to go through in the first few days after their joining? What did they do to keep their flame under control? Why couldn't they have warned you that this might happen? Or maybe it was because you were a girl that you reacted differently to the whole thing. Maybe women were just weaker in these things? But you still wondered what Mikoto would do.

Where was everyone when you needed them the most?

An opportunity showed itself when, in your daze, you accidentally bumped into someone. Snapping back to reality, you found that it was a woman wearing fancy clothes. You quickly jumped back and bowed, yelling, "Sorry, sorry!"

The woman didn't have any time to react when a huge man came to stand in front of her. "Who do you think you are, running into other people?"

Without waiting for your response he threw a punch your way but the adrenaline that started to flow through your body combined with your flame that you were slowly losing control of made you dodge it just in time.

The woman you had bumped into called out a name, probably of this man, telling him to stop but he didn't listen so you took the liberty to knock some sense into him and opened the lock you had put on your aura.

Everything that had been bottled up these past few days was set free in one go and the redness engulfed you within seconds, the sweat that had been covering you disappearing almost immediately. At the back of your mind you also registered that your clothes were somehow still intact, but you didn't have time to think about that when you kicked your foot at the bodyguard.

You had never learned how to fight but that didn't seem to be necessary when you were covered in flames. Your leg connected with the man's arm as he tried to block it and he yelped in pain as your aura seemed to bite him.

Twirling around, you quickly switched which foot you were standing on and practically threw your other leg at him. He still hadn't completely recovered from the previous burn so your kick caught him in his side. You didn't know where all this power suddenly came from, but you found that your kick had been strong enough to send this big, muscled man to the floor.

He didn't even get up after that and you looked at him in shock. Then you noticed the attention you were getting and decided to disappear into an alley nearby in search of more trouble.

* * *

Later that night, you weren't quite sure what time it was, you returned to the bar and were greeted by Mikoto's back. Izumo was doing something in the kitchen, but when he returned he almost dropped whatever he was holding.

"Haru! Where have you been?" he almost yelled at you and Mikoto decided to turn around to look at you as well.

You could almost feel his gaze wandering over your body, taking in the various cuts and bruises you had acquired by fighting with other people all day. You felt rather conscious of yourself all of a sudden and tugged at your skirt to make it seem a little longer.

He didn't say anything about it though, probably knowing that you were going to get hell from Izumo when the bartender got a better look at you.

Izumo carefully placed everything he had been carrying on the counter before making his way towards you, his eyes widening slightly as he took in your dishevelled appearance. To your surprise, he didn't get angry.

"What happened? Is it too much for you?" he inquired softly as he wiped some dirt from your cheek. He didn't specify what 'it' was, but you already knew what he meant.

"I'm fine now, don't worry about it," you replied with a smile and you pulled away from him. "I'm just tired, so I'm going to go to bed, alright?"

As you passed Mikoto on your way to the stairs, he grabbed your arm and turned you around. You looked at him quizzically, wondering what he was going to do. Your heart almost melted when he quietly pressed Izumo's first aid kit into your hands before turning back to his glass of coke.

Upstairs, you decided to take a quick shower first. You watched as the warm water washed away all the dirt and blood covering your body, making the water that went down the drain dark with some splotches of red in it. You didn't have any serious wounds, just a few small cuts. Those bitches could bleed quite a lot if they wanted to.

One thing you noticed as you got dressed into something to sleep in and stuck some plasters from the first aid kit to the cuts on your limbs, was that the urge to burn something had been drained almost completely. You could still feel it somewhere deep inside of you, but it was controllable. How long would it take until it would try to break free again, though?

You dropped yourself on top of your bed and let your muscles relax, welcoming the exhausted feeling that overwhelmed your body. You let your thoughts wander freely, trying to process everything that had happened these past few days and trying to figure out how things were going to continue.

It didn't take long until you started to doze off but a knock on the door abruptly pulled you back to the world of the conscious. You hummed to let the other person know they could come in, but nobody did so you slowly got up and walked over to the door. The hallway was empty, except for something lying on the floor in front of your room. Bending over to pick it up, you noticed it had a sticky note stuck to it.

'Place these wherever needed, I promise it helps! :)'

With a small smile, you pulled it off and found that it was a box with those gel pads people used on their foreheads whenever they had a fever. You went to sit on your bed again and lifted your shirt a little so you could place one of the pads on your stomach. You actually had to hold yourself in to prevent yourself from groaning at the sweet coolness that immediately began to soothe your body.

Before you went back to bed you placed another pad on your chest and another on your forehead. You told yourself to thank Izumo the next time you saw him and closed your eyes to sleep.

* * *

You awoke once more that night and found only a few hours had passed since you last fell asleep. The sound of someone shuffling around in your room explained why you had woken up. You felt a warm aura and heard someone discarding their clothes and you felt rather shy knowing that he had come to your room like this. Nevertheless, you shuffled over to make some room for him.

Mikoto let out a slightly agitated sigh as he came to lie down next to you, on his side so he could look you over, and you immediately knew he wasn't very happy with you right now.

After a few moments of listening to his breathing, his deep voice made goose bumps rise along your arms. "Don't do that again."

You cuddled against him and felt him carefully probe the gel pads covering you. All of a sudden, you were pretty thankful for the darkness as every time his rough fingers touched your sensitive skin your blush would turn a shade darker.

"I'm sorry. It was all just a bit too much. I won't do it ag-" Mikoto interrupted you by pressing a finger against your lips.

"If it happens again, and it will, you can always ask us for help."

You nodded but at the same time you already knew that you weren't planning on actually taking his advice. You were just too stubborn and full of pride for that. Mikoto seemed to realise that and he grunted in irritation before turning to lie on his back, keeping you pressed against him all the while.

* * *

The next morning you woke up and found yourself lying next to Mikoto, his limbs practically sprawled out all over you. Somehow you still managed to get out of bed without waking him.

You saw that you still had one hour to go until you had to leave for school so you quietly got dressed and made your way to the kitchen to find yourself some breakfast to eat.

In the fridge you found some leftovers from the guys' dinners with another sticky note stating it was for you. You happily took it out of the fridge and warmed it up, and when you took a bite you found that it tasted just as delicious as it looked.

With your bowl of food you decided to do something you had never been able to do before: watch TV while having breakfast. And to your surprise it was much better than you had even expected!

When you still had fifteen minutes left, Mikoto sauntered down the stairs with a big yawn.

"Good morning," you said to him and he merely nodded back at you. Then he made his way to the kitchen to search for some food.

When he came back, he joined you to watch TV as well while munching on his breakfast. It was then that you caught yourself staring at him a little longer than necessary but of course not without the man himself noticing it as well. He looked at you and cocked his head to the side, maybe wondering if you were alright. If it weren't for the gel pack you had decided to wear to school today your whole body would have been burning a lovely bright red in embarrassment.

Luckily for you, the last fifteen minutes passed by in the blink of an eye and in no time you were walking down the already bustling streets of Shizume City, on your way to school.

* * *

"Good morning Munakata-san," you practically sang, your embarrassment having been replaced with cheerfulness.

"Good morning to you too… A-and, Ayame will do," your new friend mumbled quietly before swiftly straightening her back. "Are you feeling better?"

"Then you should just call me Haruka. And I'm sorry about yesterday, I really don't know what got into me. I hope your hand's not too bad…?" you inquired, almost afraid of what her answer might be.

She held her hand up for you to see and she smiled brightly at you. Normally you would have started to wonder how there couldn't be any sign of damage when clearly your touch had been hot enough to make a door handle hiss, but that smile of hers somehow managed to dazzle you even though you knew you were straight.

"See you later!" You snapped out of your daze and suddenly yelled at someone behind Ayame. She turned around to see the notorious redhead of this school awkwardly wave back at you.

She could only stare at his retreating back, wondering if this boy had really been the person everyone here had warned her about. If he was hanging around with you, then he couldn't be that bad, right? And when he had been looking at you, he didn't seem all that dangerous.

"Ah, that's Mikoto, if you haven't heard about him already. The big bad boy in school, or whatever people say about him these days. There are probably some rumours about how I slept with him going around as well, you have been warned." You laughed at her surprised expression before leading her down the hall to your classroom.

* * *

That lunch break, you had decided to drag Ayame along with you to officially meet Mikoto and hoped she was going to do this with an open heart.

"Mikoto, this is Munakata Ayame. Ayame-san, this is Mikoto Suoh."

Ayame bowed at the redhead who just nodded at her. You let out a sigh of relief, happy about the positive reactions from both parties, as you went to sit down next to your King – how funny it was to think of him as that – and patted the ground next to you to invite Ayame.

You then spent the rest of the lunch break talking about various kinds of things, mostly receiving nods from both your sides. Luckily for them you could be quite the talker, otherwise these breaks would be boring for everybody!

* * *

After school, you had decided that if your new classmate had met Mikoto, why shouldn't she meet the rest of your group as well? She might be able to help with your homework as well. With a bit of luck Tatara was at the bar today and you could catch up with him as well.

You were indeed having a lucky day for you hadn't even properly entered the bar when a certain teenager tackled you, immediately starting to ramble on about everything that had happened and all you could do was listen to him and hope that one day he would calm down a little.

"I bought a guitar today! And you know that test from before the holidays? I aced it! My mother gave me permission to meet up with you guys more often now because of that! Oh, I heard what happened with your parents by the way, I'm really so-"

Tatara let his sentence float away and you could only stand there, your arms wrapped around the boy in an attempt not to fall over with him. Why had he stopped talking? What happened?

When you finally managed to turn around, you saw that Ayame was standing in the doorway, almost as though she were made of stone. You looked back at Tatara and realised that he was looking the new girl over, he was so interested in her that it almost seemed scary.

"Well then, Ayame-san, this idiot here is Totsuka Tatara and the man not behind the bar right now is Kusanagi Izumo. Guys, this is Munakata Ayame," you introduced everyone at the same time while throwing the boy who had been hanging on you off.

He quickly regained his composure though and held his hand out for Ayame, a handsome smile on his face. "It's nice to meet you, Munakata-san."

Izumo yelled the same from the kitchen and apologised that he was too busy to greet her properly at the moment.

Then you led her to your special corner and quickly got her something to drink before you got started with homework.

Maybe life wasn't so bad after all, you thought.


	7. Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide

**Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide  
**_She's a steel thrill suicide they say, cyanide in her plastic veins.  
She's a mannequin of misery. She's on a bender but she ain't gonna break._

Days passed and slowly but surely the cracks once more started to reappear in your seemingly perfect life. Though you kept telling the others and yourself that you could control it and that everything was going to be fine, your outbursts became more frequent and sometimes you even disappeared for days. School was completely forgotten and even the thought of the bar didn't manage to pull you back out of your stupor most of the time.

Everyone seemed to know what was going on but nobody attempted to stop you so you just carried on with what you were doing, not know exactly what you were supposed to do with yourself. But with the lack of a guide, the only thing you were actually succeeding in was destroying yourself.

Mikoto was the one who was the least happy with the whole situation. However, he knew you well enough to know that you weren't going to listen to anyone, not even him, until you had reached your limit and would crawl back to them, begging for help.

So that was exactly what he was going to do, ignoring the concerns voiced by Izumo and Tatara. Sometimes even Munakata said something about it when she got dragged into the bar by his youngest vassal. God knows why he liked hanging around her so much, ironically she was far too quiet for the King's liking, and the sight of her enormous glasses that practically made it impossible for anyone to see her eyes annoyed him for no obvious reasons, but if it made his friend happy then Mikoto would comply. Anyway, it seemed that the girl had a good heart and she wasn't harming anyone with her presence.

There would be days that you would come home in the evening and quickly go upstairs to take a shower and go to bed. The next morning you would be waiting for the redhead to go to school, even though you wouldn't talk as much as you used to. That was something that Mikoto really didn't like but he wasn't one to push you into confessing what was going on. Sometimes you would join him during lunch break with Munakata, sometimes you'd walk back home together with him after school. But sometimes your friend would be the only one to eat his lunch with, sometimes you wouldn't be waiting for him at the gates, and sometimes he would later hear from Munakata that you left sometime during the day.

Days turned into weeks and Mikoto just stopped expecting things to change for the better all of a sudden. He didn't stop caring, he _never_ stopped caring, he just gave up on hoping you would start doing better. At one point he even realised that it was like he was living with an alcoholic or a drug addict, like wishing that whenever they said they would quit that they would actually do so.

Even worse than that, he was even starting to _regret _letting her join him in the first place, giving her that power. He knew that it was difficult at times, but if he had known that her reaction would be so different than that of the boys, he would have preferred worrying about her inability to protect herself than worrying about whether she would even make it through the night, wherever she may be in that moment.

It was then that Mikoto decided to not accept any more women into his clan, if that's what one could call it, ignoring the fact that it might just be you having problems adjusting and not the whole other half of the population.

However, with or without your presence, life still went on, even for the King and his vassals. Mikoto had thought it irritating when Tatara began following him around, claiming the redhead was going to become someone great and getting into all sorts of trouble because of that. These days many other people chose to 'stalk' him and even Tatara and Izumo, in the hopes of joining this new phenomenon people were starting to talk about. It was obvious that most of them were just looking for a thrill though.

"You should give them some kind of test," Izumo suggested as Mikoto scared off another group of boys who had been running around him for the past few minutes.

Mikoto clicked his tongue in annoyance and shrugged. "They should just stay away from me."

Tatara laughed at that, shaking his head in disagreement. "Don't say things like that! If it weren't for my persistence, you would now have a loyal vassal less, right?" He then pointed at one of the disappointed boys' back. "Maybe you just let another worthy member leave without even trying to test him what he's capable of."

A frown appeared on the King's face while he stared at his hand, thinking that maybe Tatara was right. But what on Earth could he do to test the newcomers? And then it suddenly hit him: he had only passed his flame on to the others in a passive manner, as if _waiting_ for them to accept it. Maybe he should use a more aggressive way to approach his potential comrades.

"Hey!" Mikoto suddenly yelled, astonishing Izumo and Tatara who stopped walking to watch what was about to happen.

Even then there was only one boy in the group who actually turned around to see what was going on and Mikoto decided he would be the first to go through his newly-formed 'test'. Surprisingly enough, or maybe not, this boy was the one Tatara had pointed at only seconds ago.

At the sight of Mikoto gesturing for him to come closer he did so with a shocked look on his face. Without another word to the group he had been walking in, he ran back to where the King was waiting for him, who then proceeded to look the newcomer over.

He was a slightly chubby man with short, blond hair and the beginnings of a goatee could be seen on his chin. He was wearing a simple jogging outfit.

"Name?" Mikoto practically barked, which only made the boy look at him in confusion.

"Eh?"

Mikoto sighed and scratched the back of his neck, thinking that maybe he should at least try to seem a little nicer. "What's your name?"

"K-Kamamoto Rikio, sir," the boy then responded.

Though Mikoto had tried his best to let go of his harsh edge, Kamamoto still didn't seem very sure about him so it was obvious that when the redhead held his hand out for him, he eyed it rather suspiciously.

"Look, I haven't got all day," Mikoto nearly snapped, feeling a little irritated by the girly giggles that he could hear coming from Izumo and Tatara standing behind him.

Kamamoto jumped up and quickly grabbed Mikoto's hand. The first few seconds nothing happened and the poor guy wondered what was going on when his new King wouldn't let go and merely continued to stare at him like he were some kind of experiment.

Little did he realise that that was exactly what he was.

He let out a cry when he saw the red aura appear around Mikoto's hand and in his panic he tried to yank his hand back, but the redhead wouldn't let go so he had to watch in horror as the flames slowly made their way up his arm, over his shoulder, spreading out across the rest of his body until they just disappeared. He then stood there, trembling and staring at the man standing in front of him who was watching him quizzically. It took him another few moments until he realised that it hadn't actually hurt him…

"Welcome, Rikio." That was all Mikoto had to say.

"Typically King," Tatara sighed but he grinned nonetheless before stepping forward to greet their new comrade, who still didn't know what just happened.

Tatara held his hand out but Kamamoto didn't exactly feel like shaking hands with anybody for the rest of his life right now. Tatara laughed at the boy's face and lifted his hands in the air to show him he meant no harm.

Kamamoto scratched the back of his head with a sheepish expression before following his superior who couldn't be much older than he himself was, all the while listening to everything the boy had to say about joining their clan. Izumo and Mikoto just stared at their slowly retreating backs while silently agreeing to let Tatara take care of any newcomers from now on.

* * *

Lying on the pavement, snuggling with a brick wall at the side of one of those streets in a city where nobody dared to come at night, you looked up at the starry sky and realised there wasn't much starry about the sky at all. Probably because of all that smog the city seemed to be emitting every moment of the day. You remembered your family trip to the countryside, remembered looking up at night and seeing more stars than you even knew existed. That was probably an exaggeration, but in that moment that had been what it felt like.

You rolled over onto your side and reached out for the bottle lying next to you. When you picked it up, you found it to be empty and threw it away with a groan, listening to it shatter as it hit the ground.

Alcohol numbed the need to burn something to a crisp but at the same time you were glad you had nothing of the substance left to drink. You really didn't need another addiction that you would only have to get rid of later on.

Then you started wondering what your parents might be doing in that moment. Had they told you grandparents already? How had they reacted? They had been the only ones to really love you in your family.

Your thoughts automatically moved over to Homra and your friends. Did they miss you? It pained you to think that they hadn't even tried to stop or help you. But then again, you had never actually asked them to do so.

Hearing about them through rumours, you had found out that they were doing just fine without you. They had started recruiting new members, or so it seemed, and apparently they had found two or three new additions to the clan. It pleased you to know they were doing okay.

With another groan, you pulled yourself form the ground and while ignoring the throbbing in your body from your last rumble, you decided you should return home for the night.

You just hoped you could still call it that.

* * *

The sight of so much movement in the bar this early in the evening surprised you and you had to remind yourself that they must be the newbies. Just before you entered, you started feeling a little embarrassed at the thought of meeting these people. Had the others told them about you? About how you were too weak to contain the flames inside of you?

It was about time to find out.

All the cheerful chattering ceased when you stepped through the doors and all eyes were looking over at you, making you feel far more conscious about yourself than humanly possible.

"Haru! What luck, I was just about to leave." Tatara was the first to greet you with a small hug. He then turned around to face the other guys sitting at the bar. "This is Haruka, our other member we told you about, remember?"

He turned back to you and pulled you in front of him so that he stood behind you as he introduced you to the strangers.

"This is Kamamoto Rikio, he was the first new guy to join us."

Standing closest to you was a blond, slightly overweight boy who really couldn't be any older than maybe fourteen or fifteen years old. He looked rather friendly as he nodded his head in what seemed to be appreciation at meeting you or something.

"The boy next to him is Dewa Masaomi."

He had short, unruly black hair and he wore thick-rimmed square glasses. He moved forward a little to politely shake your hand and slowly but surely you were starting to feel a little more at ease.

"And finally, Chitose Yo."

This boy had wavy brown hair and he looked to be about the same age as Dewa, maybe about sixteen years old. From the way they interacted with each other you concluded that they had already become friends, or maybe they had been together even before joining the group. When he heard his name being mentioned, he turned to look at you and shot you a good-natured smile.

"Guys, this is Haruka Shouta. As you might have realised, we are very fond of our little sister and always worry about her, so please treat her with respect," Tatara finished his introductions and his words made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, knowing they hadn't forgotten about you while you were out roaming through the city.

As if to prove the words Tatara had just spoken, fingers wrapped around your wrist and pulled you backwards. In your surprise, you tripped and practically fell on top of Mikoto who didn't even notice, or at least pretended not to notice, as he investigated your hand. He softly traced one of his fingers along the small burn marks scattered across your palm and despite his look of disinterest, you recognised the look of concern in his eyes that seemed to be there all the time when it came to you. It made you feel guilty.

"I see King will be taking care of you. Then I'll take my leave!" Tatara exclaimed and waved around happily before making his way home.

Looking up to wave your friend off, you noticed that the others were still watching you and Izumo decided to join you on the couch by moving your fallen butt over a little. He placed that first aid kit you had gotten quite acquaintanced with over the past few weeks on the table and opened it, grabbing all kinds of tools out of it to begin fixing you up.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I'm causing you guys," you whispered as you watched the two men patch up one of your hands each.

They didn't reply and just when the silence was starting to become awkward, your three new comrades came to join you on the couch. They began asking you various questions, as if trying to lift the tension in the air and cheer you up a little. That despite the fact that they hardly knew you.

You ended up talking with them all night, asking them a few questions of your own as well.

Dewa and Chitose apparently never finished school because they kept getting into too much trouble together. Neither did they have anywhere else to stay so the two had actually become your neighbours during your absence. Kamamoto was having some problems at school too, but you tried your best to encourage him to keep on doing his best.

You didn't know how long you had been conversing with the boys. Eventually Izumo joined in and had managed to get everyone to laugh after having such a serious talk. You only realised that it had gotten quite late when Mikoto curtly announced he was going to bed and got up to go up the stairs. You excused yourself from the table before following the redhead to his room.

Mikoto was already done undressing himself when you entered his room with your pyjamas, which you had quickly grabbed from your own room. Without even glancing at you, he crawled under the blankets, his back turned to you. You still weren't quite sure whether he always went to lie like that to give you some privacy or just because he liked lying on that side. Whatever the reason may be, you took advantage of it and changed into your other clothes as fast as you could before joining your King under the covers.

He didn't say anything to you, didn't even turn onto his back to let you sleep on him and that had you a little worried. It was when you shuffled closer to him and actually found enough courage to start spooning him that you noticed he didn't do any of his usual things because he had already fallen asleep.

With a small smile on your face you closed your eyes to join him.

How could you have possibly wondered if you could still call this your home?


	8. Devour

Because many things remain a mystery about Mikoto's high school days, I took the liberty to fill in a few blank spots. Concerning Munakata Reisi, I am going to make it so that they he only started 'disliking' HOMRA once he became the Blue King, if that is alright with you guys.  
Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

**Devour  
**_Take it and take it and take it and take it all, take it and take it and take it until you take us all.  
Smash it and crash it and thrash it and trash it, you know they're only toys.  
Try it, you'll like it, don't hide it, don't fight it, just let it out.  
Steal and shoot it and kill it or take another route.  
Take it and take it and take it, you know they're only toys._

Your sudden return had melted the shield Mikoto had built around his feelings in order to stop himself from hoping that things would change. Hearing your laughter for the first time in what felt like ages, listening to your voice as you spoke more than you had in the past few weeks, feeling your touch just before he fell asleep, he had slowly started to expect you had 'recovered'.

That made it all the more painful when he woke up the next morning only to find himself lying all alone in his bed without you. You and your clothes had disappeared; the only thing left were your pyjamas on the couch. No one was to be seen downstairs either. There was only Izumo, who was dusting his bar for the umpteenth time that week.

"If you're looking for Haru," a voice spoke to him from behind the bar. "She left earlier this morning with Ayame-san."

Mikoto's shoulders slumped so much it might have seemed they were slowly sliding off his body.

So you hadn't left him again. He couldn't believe the jump his heart seemed to make when he heard the news and he wondered what might be wrong with him.

Heart arrhythmia?

Atherosclerosis?

Thrombosis?

…love?

Mikoto mentally shook his head before pouring himself a glass of water and sitting on a stool to watch Izumo continue cleaning the bar.

"Did you guys… do anything last night?" Izumo asked hesitantly, not looking up from what he was doing.\

He was forced to glance up when he didn't receive an answer and was met with an incredulous stare from Mikoto, his hand with his glass of water hanging in the air.

Despite having been best friends with the King for years now, there were still many things about the boy that Izumo did not know and did not have to know. One of those things was whether or not he was still a virgin, but as he saw his King's face, he immediately knew that this wasn't something Mikoto thought lightly of and wouldn't do with the snap of a finger.

"Ah, no, it's not like that! It's just that Haru was talking about having some sort of epiphany and that she was going to try harder to get used to everything, so I was wondering if anything had happened…" Izumo defended himself quickly, frantically waving his hands around to emphasise the point he was trying to make.

A slightly uncomfortable silence hung in the air as Mikoto continued to sip at his glass of water peacefully while Izumo went back to cleaning his beloved bar.

After a few minutes Izumo popped back up and went to lean over the counter so he was closer to Mikoto, effectively grabbing the redhead's attention who raised an eyebrow at his vassal.

"Last night, after you went to bed, we started thinking that now that our group's getting a little bigger and more official, we should find a name or something," Izumo started while he began wiping the counter with a piece of cloth.

Mikoto didn't answer immediately and finished his drink first before turning back to his friend, as if to ask what he had in mind.

Izumo, having known him for years, quickly understood his silent part of the conversation and answered. "The others thought that since everyone always meets up here, we should call our clan HOMRA."

"Do what you like," Mikoto replied and got up to get some breakfast.

Izumo watched him leave with a smile, thinking that while Mikoto was probably the most socially awkward guy he had ever met, he just knew that their King was going to take good care of his clansmen.

* * *

You felt a little guilty for leaving without saying anything to Mikoto, but he had looked so peaceful in his sleep that you just hadn't been able to bring yourself to wake him up. Hopefully he wouldn't be too disappointed when he found out you had disappeared, though knowing him he probably wouldn't really care. If he even remembered sleeping in the same bed as you in the first place.

The reason you were up and about at such an ungodly hour – it was about eleven in the morning and you never got up before lunch time – was because your new classmate had been very worried about you and had decided to check up on you the very moment a certain someone updated her of your sudden return.

So Ayame had decided to go out with you and have a little fun on your free day in the weekend. Though technically she had come over to the bar and asked you how you were doing before shifting to awkwardly staring around and playing with her fingers, leaving it up to you to break to ice and think of a solution. Which had ended up being going shopping, because that's what girls did best, right?

You had linked your arm with Ayame', something she didn't like in the beginning but you wouldn't let her go so she gave up her struggle and accepted the fact that you weren't going to give her arm back anytime soon.

"Has anything happened at school lately?" you asked your friend as you passed a store selling cute, feminine clothes. You tried to imagine what you would look like in one of those dresses but then quickly shook your head in disdain.

"Not much." Ayame tried her best to shrug, not very easy with you practically clinging to her arm.

When she didn't continue, you tried your best to get some more details out of her. "Did I miss any fights? Did you get any tests? Did you get a lot of homework?"

"Mikoto seemed rather lonely."

You stopped walking and stared at her in surprise. For someone to be lonely, they first had to get attached to others. How was it possible that someone like Mikoto could ever become that close to anybody? Especially someone like you. Though you both seemed to be pretty wild and reckless, he was quiet and calm most of the time while you were louder and rougher. You thought he despised how you always tried to coax a conversation from his side, but apparently that wasn't the truth.

"He is really unhappy with what you're doing to yourself. And if you ever find yourself in need of someone to talk to, someone on the outside, then you can always come to me," Ayame continued when you didn't respond immediately.

"That… that would be great," you murmured as you started pulling her along again, completely sunken in thoughts once again while you decided what you should talk about then.

Luckily, Ayame stayed silent as she waited for you to start saying something on your own accord.

"Do you know anything about us?" you asked her and she shrugged and nodded her head a little. When she didn't go on, you tried to help her along. "What do you know then?"

"That Mikoto is the Red King and that you fight with an aura," she told you. As she talked, she eyed you carefully as though she were a little afraid of you all of a sudden. It surprised you that someone could be scared of you, especially how horrible it felt to see someone fear you.

And to think that before you had joined HOMRA, as they unofficially called it now, you had been frightened of Mikoto and the others as well. You didn't know Ayame that well yet, but how had it been for the others, knowing a dear friend felt that way about them?

"That's right. I'm the first girl who joined them and I think it kind of went wrong with me… I just can't seem to control the aura very well. It's becoming a little better though, but I really didn't want to let the others see me in such a state. They're worried enough as it is and I don't want to make everything worse…" Was that really the truth? Wasn't it just that your pride kept getting in the way of your ability to ask others for help?

"I think you're making them more worried by doing that. They're good people, they'll be willing and able to assist you with everything you need," Ayame retorted, sounding like she was scolding you. It felt weird to get advice from someone who was almost two years younger than you were.

"I guess you're right… Maybe I should just go talk to them," you admitted slowly, still not very sure if you were actually capable of doing so. "But first, let's enjoy our day off without any boys around!"

Ayame smiled at you, almost seeming relieved with your answer. Could it be that she had also been worrying about you? You were starting to feel more horrible with every passing minute.

"How's your brother doing?" you asked to change the subject as you started walking down a street filled with various coffee shops.

The thin line Ayame's lips were pulled in was almost enough of an answer. "He doesn't like you; he keeps saying you're all dangerous and that I should stay away from the bar."

"Well, he is right… But it should be your own choice with whom you're friends, I think." You nodded in sympathy, understanding her disliking her brother's interference but also understanding her brother's concern for his sister's wellbeing.

Ayame merely shrugged and stopped all of a sudden, though why you weren't so sure. When you switched your gaze from her widened eyes to where she was staring at, you noticed a man walking towards you with a questionable smile on his face. His dark hair was twirled into a weird shape and the violet eyes hiding behind his glasses examined every inch of your body as he made his way towards you. Seeing as how his eyes were exactly the same as those Ayame had, you figured that he must be her brother.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear!

"What a coincidence to meet my little sister going out with one of her friends. My name is Munakata Reisi, as you may have figured out already," he introduced himself, holding out his hand.

"Shouta Haruka. It's nice to finally get to meet you; I've heard so many things about you." Like how he was younger than Mikoto, therefore making him younger than you, therefore giving you the moral high ground. Don't ask why age had anything to do with morality.

You accepted his handshake and somehow managed to figure out his intentions through that simple touch of his body. He had come to test you. If it was a test he wanted, a test you would give.

"How are you?" you asked him politely, unconsciously straightening your back to make yourself come across as a more civilised person.

Munakata smiled at the question. "I'm doing just fine. Though it's a little lonely at home, now that Ayame has started going to school. But if that's what makes her happy, then I'll have to comply."

Though it was probably his intention to do so, you still couldn't stop that pang of guilt when you realised that what he was actually trying to say was: you stole my sister and now I'm mad at you. Or at least something along those lines.

He then directed his attention to his sister. "But I don't want to interrupt your time together, so I'll be off. You don't have to come home for dinner, if you want." He turned back to you and bowed down a little, though it felt like he was mocking you more than he respected you. "Goodbye Shouta-san. I hope we'll meet again soon."

And with that, he disappeared. You stared at his retreating back only to get pulled out of your daze when Ayame pulled you along by your sleeve.

"Sorry for that. I didn't think he'd actually come to meet you like that…" Ayame murmured as she quickly walked on.

You let out a laugh, letting the girl know that you weren't in the least troubled, before admitting, "I just fear that I failed some test of his."

Ayame quickly shook her head at that. "I think he likes you."

And with that you both randomly decided to buy something to eat.

* * *

You couldn't even remember exactly what you had been doing all day long, but before you knew it, it had already gotten dark. With a glance at your phone you saw that time was nearing the double digits and you decided it was best if you went home as quickly as possible. You wanted to impress Munakata into accepting you as Ayame's friend, so this wasn't the best time to bring her home so late.

And anyway, you had this feeling that something bad was going to happen if you stuck around for too long.

But even though it had gotten so late so fast and even though you felt something wasn't quite right, you were glad that you got to spend the day with Ayame. It was great to see how, slowly but surely, she started opening up towards you as her sentences became longer and more spontaneous.

"I'm really happy that we went out today," Ayame said all of a sudden on the way back to the bar. You had planned that the boys would accompany you back to her house and you had told them you'd be there round eight in the evening so they were probably worried right now.

"Yeah, me too," you told her with a sincere smile on your face. She returned the gesture and right then and there you decided that you would forget all your worries, at least during the walk back.

However, it seemed as though fate wasn't willing to give you any peace and the very moment you let your guard down, it would return to make your life seem more like living in Hell.

As if from out of no where, a pair of hands appeared from an alley you had just been passing by and snatched Ayame away from you, one of them clasping over her mouth to prevent her from screaming as the other pulled her along.

"Ayame!" you called out as you grabbed one of her hands so that she couldn't get separated from you. The person capturing her was too strong to pull her back and you ended up getting dragged away with her.

Your mind was blank as two more arms grabbed you from behind you, ceasing all your attempts to free Ayame.

"And I thought kids these days got taught that wandering about at night is dangerous, with all the perverts and murderers running about," a voice chuckled from behind you and you couldn't help but feel disgusted at the sound of it so close to you.

"Just be thankful there are some stupid bimbos left for us. If you tie that one up I'll do this one while we wait for the others to return," the other guy commanded.

Ayame just sat there, seemingly calm as she let her assaulter tie a rope around her wrists and ankles. Your capturer wasn't that lucky however and was actually forced to punch you in the face to get you to stop your wriggling and kicking.

"Be careful, she'll be worth less if you hurt her," the boss warned his companion before carefully grabbing Ayame's chin to turn her head upwards, probably to get a better look at her face.

He swore all of a sudden, stopping both you and this prick's struggle to beat the other. "'sup boss?"

"She's got glasses."

The man who had been straddling you got up and you saw that he was wearing a bandana, under which he probably didn't have any hair.

"Shit, that means she's useless," bandana muttered while quickly glancing at his wrist, maybe at his watch. "The others will be here soon. What'll we do with her?"

Boss turned around with an unhappy look on his face. "The same thing that we do to all dead weight. Kill her."

Your eyes widened at that and you started to shuffle around in an attempt to free yourself from these damned ropes.

"What, no, you can't!" Before you could form a coherent sentence, a foot pressed your face against the ground.

"Shut your trap and be a nice little girl, please," bandana growled at you, but despite his horrible aura and how the lower half of your face was being buried into the mud, you couldn't tear your gaze away from the knife that boss pulled out, from Ayame as she began to squirm around uneasily, from boss as he knelt down in front of her and held her head up by her hair.

"Sorry," he murmured and you wanted to scream that if he really were sorry, then he wouldn't even do this in the first place but all you could do was taste dirt.

Without another moment of hesitation he plunged the blade into her neck. A gasp was heard as she seemed to struggle for breath and she desperately tried to tug her hands apart to free them, but an agonising ten seconds later she slumped into a pile of flesh and bones.

The foot on your head was removed and you stared at the lifeless body that had been your only female friend mere seconds ago.

What had just happened? A few minutes ago you had been strolling through this lovely city together with a dear friend of yours, thinking that life was finally starting to brighten a little once more. Your biggest worry had been disappointing this girl's brother, now it would be telling said boy that the sister that he had tried to protect all his life had been killed.

And all that because of her eyesight.

Even though you were practically lying next to her.

Footsteps appeared from the other end of the alley, but you didn't hear them as they asked what had happened, too caught up in your train of thoughts to even notice the flames seeping out of their cages.

What had you done wrong to deserve all of this shit?

You had never disrespected anyone, always did as you were told, tried your best not to harm nature and its inhabitants… Then why, why, why was it that all you ever received from the rest of the world was this kind of stuff?

"O-oi, boss, look…" bandana stammered once he turned around to see what the sudden shuffling was that he had been hearing.

The ropes tying your arms and legs together fell to the ground as ashes and a newspaper that had been lying around spontaneously caught fire.

"What the fuck is going on?" boss asked no one in particular as he took a step back, the others of the group doing the same as they watched you get to your feet unsteadily.

You couldn't see anything but flames before your eyes. You couldn't feel anything but the warmth of your aura surrounding you. You couldn't think of anything but the fact that an innocent girl was lying there, dead because of these assholes.

Said assholes never saw it coming when you suddenly shot out towards them, almost flying, and grabbed their so-called boss by his collar. Without waiting, you pulled his face down while flinging your knee up, the two connecting with a painful crunch.

Before anyone could regain his composure you went on to the second man, smashing his head against the brick wall and then kicking bandana, who had been trying to sneak up from behind you for the second time that evening, in the stomach. As he collapsed another new guy tried to gain control of your body by jumping on top of you, but the adrenaline and flames coursing through your veins gave you the power to not collapse under his weight.

Instead you just waited until he felt the pain himself and when he did he started screaming like a little girl, quickly ripping his shirt off that had been caught by your flames.

Bandana was up and about again, this time with a crowbar he had found lying around. He swung it at you but you stopped it with your bare hands, your aura shooting over it and burning his hand.

"Shit!" he cursed as he ran out of the alley and on to the street, the remaining traffickers quickly following him.

You didn't give them much time to rest and sprinted after them, tackling the slowest of the group to the ground and pinning him to the ground. While your fingers and legs burned his wrists and thighs, he got the chance to look up at your face and found himself to be captured by an animal: wide eyes, bared teeth and heavy breathing. You quickly head butted him, making him lose consciousness.

Trash lying around combusted as you stalked towards bandana and the few surviving members of his gang. Though they seemed to be shivering in fright, they weren't willing to actually flee from what was supposed to be their prey.

"H-hey, come on now, let's be reasonable, we'll let you go," bandana tried while jumping away from your fist as you swung it at him.

One of the traffickers had detached himself from the group and tried attacking you from behind again, this time with a wooden baseball bat. It collided with the back of your head and you staggered a little, but it didn't do much harm with the flames protecting your body. He gasped as he watched you snatch his weapon away from him and started hitting him with it yourself.

Once… Twice… Thrice… Blood was pouring from his shoulder but you still couldn't find it in yourself to stop. You hit him again and again and again and again until he was unconscious and the bat snapped.

Without any regret, it was impossible for you to feel anything other than anger, you turned back to bandana and the few survivors. In their shock they hadn't taken this chance to run and now they were going to get Hell for it.

They found a little rage in them too and started attacking you all at the same time and if you had been yourself in that moment, you would have been surprised at how fluidly you evaded every single hit and kick they threw your way.

Every single attack from all the Jackie Chan films you had watched bubbled up inside of you and you used every single Bruce Lee and Yip Man move you had ever seen in your life against your attackers, despite the fact that you had never learned how to do any of them properly.

Your brain felt completely fried as you punched and punched until you were the last man standing, your shoulders heaving as you tried to suck in as much air possible.

You had succeeded in doing what you had wanted to do, yet you still didn't feel satisfied. The flames tickling in your fists yearned for more, for more much and that yearning pushed away every single sensible thought that may or may not have been running through your mind.

It came to the point that you didn't notice the flames spreading all across the concrete ground around you. You didn't hear the footsteps quickly nearing your position or the voices that were calling for you. Not even the sound of Ayame's voice could make you snap back into reality as you were engulfed by your thirst for more power, more fighting, more, more, more…

"Oi."

A voice. So close. So familiar. Right behind you. Who?

Mikoto.

Why?

"Snap out of it."

What was he doing here? Where were you? What had happened? What was going on?

"Oi, Haru."

He just said your name. Was this reality? Of course not. Couldn't be.

You swirled around and threw your fist at him, hitting him right on his jaw. A gasp left your newly-formed audience, but you didn't notice. You didn't even see how Tatara and Izumo were quickly leading Ayame away, realising they probably wouldn't be of much help in this conflict.

Mikoto just stared at you, not fazed by your aura in the slightest as he merely grabbed your hand that was still connected to his face. Without any warning or sign of exertion, he flung you over his shoulder, sending you crashing into the ground a few metres behind him.

With a grunt, you crawled back up to stand on your feet. Once you had regained your balance, you ran towards him and made a summersault just when he was about to punch you. From your position on the ground, you kicked him in the back of his right knee, making him fall to the ground. He got up again as fast as he could and moved back a little to prepare for your next move.

That move, however, never came and you continued to stare at him, but not really _at_ him.

Why were you fighting? Weren't you friends? Didn't you love him? Didn't he like you? He had been lonely. Lonely. Without you.

Why were you fighting?

The last bit of control that you had managed to keep on your body disappeared in the blink of an eye, your consciousness far too tired to keep restraining yourself. And the very moment that happened, your aura blazed ever fiercer than it had already been doing. Posters hanging on the walls started burning now too, the glass in the windows was starting to creak at the pressure and Mikoto realised that if he didn't stop you soon, things were going to get much worse.

And when he heard your voice, tiny and almost unnoticeable, at the back of his mind, though he did not know how, he knew what he had to do.

_Help me._

Ignoring the inflated aura protecting your body, he walked right through the redness covering the ground like it was nothing more than a hot summer's day. At the sight of him coming closer, you bared your teeth once more and growled to warn him, ready to jump at him any minute now. Luckily for Mikoto, a tiny string of your core was still there, trying to hold yourself back just a little longer, hopefully long enough for your King to save you.

He stopped once he stood right in front of you and stared down at your blank eyes, hesitating for a split second before wrapping his arms around you. He stopped ignoring the flames that had been licking at him all this time and instead started to embrace them, started to welcome them.

Slowly but surely, they started to seep into his own aura and mingled with his own flames until the heat disappeared.

All that remained was your limp body, covered in burn marks and sweat from pushing yourself for far too long. He carefully heaved you onto his shoulder before making his way back to the bar.


	9. Cry for Help

I am really sorry this chapter took so long! I haven't had a lot of time because I've started playing Sims 3 again so I've been doing that a lot, and finals are starting next week - lots of homework! I had also been having quite a lot of problems with it because I wasn't quite sure yet what I even wanted to write for it and just when I decided that I didn't have to reach the 3k word mark (I was stuck under 2k), I randomly got the idea for the last scene. So here it is! Enjoy!

* * *

**Cry for Help  
**_You better pray that there's another way out.  
You better pray that someone's listening now and doesn't want to watch you drown,  
because when you lie like the Devil himself, no angel's gonna hear your cry for help._

Days passed by like nothing had happened and everyone continued on with their lives. It had been raining all day and made for a gloomy change compared to the sunny days that had passed.

"How is she?" Ayame asked as she and Mikoto entered the bar, both drenched from walking there from school.

Tatara shook his head to indicate there hadn't been any changes before he walked over to greet her by pulling her glasses from her nose and starting to clean them for her, making fidget shyly on the spot.

Mikoto didn't say anything as he dropped his bag to the ground and went upstairs to change into a fresh pair of clothes and check up on you, just to prove to himself that what Tatara had said was the truth. While he dried his hair with a towel, he entered your room and found that, indeed, you were still lying on your bed. Your cheeks were flushed and your chest rose and fell too fast for Mikoto's liking as you panted softly. He picked up the completely dried up piece of cloth that was supposed to force your fever down and grabbed another one of those gel packs, gently placing it on your forehead after wiping away the sweat there. It wasn't just your face but also the rest of your body that was covered in it, but he wouldn't dare intrude in your personal space and go any further than that.

A twitch of your body indicated that today wasn't destined to be the same as its predecessors and you slowly lifted your hand and grabbed his before he could pull those lovely, cool fingers from your head.

"She… alive… How… What happened?" you managed, opening your eyes a little to look at the redhead.

He had a grim look on his face as he sat down beside you on the bed, wondering how you were going to react if he told you. He himself hadn't been to happy when he found out about it, seeing as how it meant that you had pushed yourself too far for nothing.

"She's a Strain. She healed herself," he informed you while carefully gauging your reaction. He doubted that you could even properly register what he had said, anyway. "That, and the adrenaline helped too."

Mikoto had been wrong and you understood what he said perfectly well. In the 'weird magician's world 101' Tatara and Izumo had given you once you had officially become a member of the group you had learned about the Strains and how they had been born with certain powers without receiving them from a King.

In contrast to Mikoto's reaction to the news, you just smiled at hearing Ayame was alright before closing your eyes, finding yourself too tired to keep them opened any longer.

Mikoto took that as a sign that he had to leave and went back downstairs.

"Did she wake up?" Tatara was the first to ask, as everyone had realised that Mikoto had been upstairs far longer than usual, and Mikoto curtly nodded in response before sitting on a stool at the bar.

As though some kind of pressure left the room in that instance, all shoulders seemed to slump in relief.

"Well, her fever has dropped a little this afternoon," Izumo admitted with a small smile on his face.

Ayame seemed to be the only one who wasn't quite happy with these findings. "Did you tell her...?"

Mikoto nodded once more, his face blank as he did so. He had been trying his best not to show how he really felt about this whole ordeal to the poor girl who actually couldn't do anything about all this. After all, it wasn't as if she had done it on purpose. It was only logical that she wouldn't randomly tell others that she was a Strain, especially since her brother had been hammering on and on about how people couldn't be trusted with something like that all her life. Apparently part of Munakata's overprotective attitude towards his sister came from her being a Strain and his fear that someone might want to use her for the wrong purposes.

His way of handling the situation had taken quite a toll on Ayame herself, though. That became evident in how the very moment it was mentioned, a whole wave of a life story had come crashing out of her. How she found out about it when she had her first knee-scrape-accident and it healed up right in front of their eyes, how they tried to visit specialists who should help them 'fight' it and how she eventually just accepted it as being part of herself. The explanation of that she was just a Strain and that it was supposed to be a blessing came far too late.

"I... I'm really sorry," she mumbled guiltily, her eyes not leaving her hands as she didn't dare to look at the men who were surrounding her. She should have known better, these weren't ordinary people either, she should have trusted them with her secret.

What made everything worse was that she found out that her powers - the ability to heal wounds - did not work on serious, internal wounds on people with colours. She had managed to make the cuts and bruises that had been scattered across your body disappear, but seeing the burn marks and fever remain almost broke her heart: just when she had thought that she could use her powers for _something_, it turned out to be a ruse**.**

"What are you apologising for?" Tatara asked her, looking sincerely surprised at her words. "You didn't know that something like that was going to happen. We all understand why you didn't tell us, right?"

Izumo nodded in agreement and Mikoto didn't look all that unhappy, so they presumed he would have nodded too if he had felt like it.

Maybe in an act to make everything better, fate decided to help a little as you appeared at the top of the stairs, having woken up once more shortly after Mikoto left, feeling a lot better and having the need to see the others too. Your heavy breathing immediately caught everyone's attention.

"Haruka!"Ayame exclaimed as she saw you waver slightly, but before anybody could do anything, Mikoto had already jumped up the stairs to catch you before you could tumble down the steps.

"Idiot," he swore under his breath as he carefully carried you down the stairs and onto the closest couch.

"Haru, what are you doing?" Tatara asked you as he came to kneel beside you, wiping the hair out of your sticky face.

"I wanted to make sure... Mikoto wasn't lying," you muttered while trying your best to sit up again, though the King kept pressing you back down. In the end you stopped resisting and instead turned your head to look at Ayame – standing at the back of the group without a single scar – and you felt yourself calm down immediately at what you saw.

"Here, drink this," Izumo encouraged you, placing a glass of water on the table in front of the couch you were lying on. Mikoto stopped pushing you back down and carefully started pulling you back up into a sitting position instead while Tatara found a blanket somewhere behind the bar to cover you up with. Your pyjamas were a little too revealing to sit in front of the window like that

As you slowly drank from your glass, all eyes on you as if the others were expecting you to faint at any given moment, you realised that despite the fact that you felt weak and sick and miserable and that you were hurting all over, you knew that you couldn't have felt any safer and more comfortable in that moment.

And letting go of all your boundaries and control, you mustered as much strength as possible for your confession. You wanted to say it now, now that you were all together for a moment and all attention was directed towards you. Especially now that you had seen what could happen when things went horribly wrong.

"Guys… I… I'm really sorry. For what happened… And for making you worry so much. I've been a really horrible friend these past few days… And… And I'd like to tell you the truth… Though you already know what's going on, I want to say it out loud." You interrupted yourself with a cough and as you felt your throat become dry once more so you quickly took another sip of water.

"I couldn't control it. Still can't, as you can see. Ayame… You might feel very guilty right now, but I'm actually really grateful for what happened. I might not know the story behind this yet, but I will respect your choices. Now I got to see my actual limits without anyone getting harmed. Well, except those guys back there… And Mikoto, I'm so sorry…" you continued, your own guilt filling you as you carefully traced the slightly red spot on Mikoto's jaw.

Nobody said anything as you gathered the courage for what was going to come and you were really thankful for that. You were so lucky to have met these wonderful people who would do anything to try and help you, so now it was time that you started paying back your debts and doing something about your problems yourself.

"I… I need your help. I don't want anything like… that happening again. I'm not even sure that is even possible, because I can't really feel it right now… But maybe that's just because I'm like this at the moment. I don't know how you guys will be able help me though… Maybe I'm just an over-energised dog that needs to go out on walks more often…" you trailed off, having the feeling that you had said too much already. But you felt so awkward, you hadn't done anything like this before and it made you unsure of yourself and everything else too.

When you dared to look up again, Mikoto was the first one your gaze searched and what you saw surprised you for a moment. On his face was a small, but pleasant smile. What you didn't know was that he was just happy that you had finally stepped beyond the barrier of your pride and asked them for help.

You weren't the only one to notice the quirk of Mikoto's lips.

"Seeing as I've got the bar to look after and Tatara will be busy with Ayame." A cough interrupted his sentence and a certain clansman hit him on his head. "I think it's best to let Mikoto in charge of dealing with your problem."

A sly grin appeared on Izumo's face, something you didn't get to see a lot, and you knew that everything was going according to some scheme of his. Everyone's eyes went from Mikoto to Izumo, Ayame and you blushing heavily – though your colour was camouflaged behind your already red cheeks – while Mikoto and Tatara gave him an incredulous stare.

Yes, the next few days were going to be really scary with Izumo around.

* * *

~ The next few days… ~

First you were going to enjoy the feeling of Mikoto's chest as he carried you up and down the stairs as your body still had some recovering to do from the overuse of your flames. Even taking a shower was something you weren't allowed to do yourself and just when you had thought that it would have to wait until you were well enough to stand on your own again, Izumo suggested that someone should help you with that.

It was around dinner time and Masaomi and Yo – you called them by their first names these days because it made you feel more like a real clan – had just entered the bar together, excited to get some food to eat, but hearing Izumo say that made them sprint back out through the door, faces gone completely red.

Izumo shook his head at that before turning back to Mikoto, the person he had actually been talking to.

Ah, there it was again, you noticed. That look Mikoto gave anyone when he was wondering if they were serious or not, with one of his eyebrows raised as he narrowed his eyes.

There was no talking as Izumo countered Mikoto's "what-the-fuck?"-look with one of his own trademark faces, the happy and innocent smile. You kept looking back and forth between the two men, almost feeling a headache coming up when you remembered why they were staring at each other: Izumo wanted Mikoto to help you take a bath.

"I can always, you know, do it myself?" you suggested casually, slowly pushing yourself from your stool, but you still couldn't stand properly without heavily leaning against the bar.

The boys directed their faces from each other to you at the same time, but their expressions had changed during the turn, to one that almost screamed no. Without further ado, Mikoto got up and was about to grab you to help you upstairs, but irritation suddenly flared inside of you and you yanked your arm out of his grasp.

"Let me at least walk by myself," you grumbled but before you could make one complete step towards the stairs, your leg gave up and you would've crashed to the ground if Mikoto hadn't caught you in time.

Ignoring Izumo's chuckling, he went up the steps with ease while you were pressed against him, filled with hesitation and humiliation of receiving help from your King with taking a bath. The look on Mikoto's face suggested that he wasn't feeling too happy about this either, that made everything a little better.

Once inside the bathroom, he placed you on the side of the tub and turned the tap on, the sound of water filling the bath almost deafening.

Mikoto sat next to you and started to investigate the walls and furniture with his eyes, as if this was the first time he had stepped into the room. Seeing his own nervousness helped soothe yours though, and you grabbed his attention by pressing your hand on his, though you didn't know why you did so. He was still a little unsure but he relaxed when he saw that you were smiling again. He had been afraid that he would have to help you while you were pissed at how you weren't allowed to do anything by yourself.

Neither one of you said anything but time passed by quickly while you were drowned in your thoughts and before you knew it, Mikoto had turned around to stop water from filling the tub any further.

Without a single word, Mikoto got up and turned his back towards you, an obvious signal that he was giving you the privacy to undress yourself. You quickly started to discard your clothes and were embarrassed by the amount of effort it took you to do so. Then you carefully turned around to face the opposite wall and wrapped your arms around your upper body to hide your breasts from the world.

"I'm done," you murmured and looked back just in time to see Mikoto walk back towards you.

He carefully wrapped his arms around your shoulders and lowered you into the tub and you immediately poured half a bottle of foam into the water, mixing it up frantically so that you could hide your naked form under a blanket of bubbles.

Mikoto moved to the closed toilet seat and leaned back to find a relaxing position as he waited for you until you felt like you needed his help again.

That appeared to be sooner than expected when you quietly asked him if he could wash your back. He merely nodded and kneeled down next to the bathtub before holding his hands out so you could squeeze some shampoo onto them. Then he waited until you had moved your hair out of the way, after which he started to rub the gooey stuff onto your back.

You closed your eyes and started to enjoy the touch of his hands rubbing your back. You even had to stop yourself from sighing contently.

Why was he even doing this? If he had really despised the idea of helping you, then he easily could have forced Izumo to do it himself, probably Tatara when the boy decided to visit once more. Your mind began to wander to the past few days, to how Mikoto had been like your personal slave these past few days, willingly helping you with almost everything and anything.

Could it be that…? No, of course not, your female brain was beginning to speculate about the wrong things. But still…

"Why are you doing this?" you asked him spontaneously and his hands stopped moving for a moment as he registered your question.

He didn't say anything and merely started to try and wash the soap from your back with the bubbly water – which he failed to accomplish – so you realised that he must have been thinking of an answer.

"Because I'm your King, and kings protect and help their subjects."

Despite the fact that you hadn't had any hopes about what his reply might be, what he said still managed to break your heart a little.


	10. Amaryllis

**Amaryllis  
**_Do I remind you of someone you never met, a lonely silhouette?  
Do I remind you of somewhere you want to be, so far out of reach?  
I wish you'd open up for me 'cause I want to know you._

Dodge left, dodge right, jump back, kick with right leg.

Your shin hit the side of Mikoto's forearm and your eyes met for a split second before you lost your balance and tumbled to the ground. The King who was supposed to protect and help his subjects merely watched you fall as he changed his stance from 'fight' to 'relax'. How you had been able to fight anyone with those horrible fighting skills was beyond him

Once you were done with rolling around in a childish manner, you jumped up and readied yourself for battle once more but you relaxed a little when Mikoto didn't do the same. He looked as if he were deep in thought so you didn't ask him what was going on and instead waited until he said something himself.

Your own thoughts were just about to start wandering about as well when he suddenly decided to pipe up. "We're done."

And with that he started to walk back to the bar. You had been sparring in the small street next to it.

"What? Why? We haven't even been out here for fifteen minutes!" you countered.

This had been your ritual the past few days: once you got home from school – you had started doing your very best to catch up with everything you had missed just in time to graduate – you would either do homework or start this with Mikoto. Today was Saturday though, so you had immediately gotten to it after waking up properly, which was about twenty minutes ago. Normally you would continue until you had exhausted the fire within, something that took a little less time with every passing day, but right now you didn't feel that it was time to stop just yet.

Mikoto turned back to look at you sceptically and you realised that you were missing out on something important… Something you should probably have noticed earlier.

Just as Mikoto opened his mouth, it hit you. The warmth inside of you… It was tiny, almost completely gone. What was that supposed to mean? That you could finally control it? Or…

"Your aura is barely even there. You shouldn't be having much trouble to control something like that." What he was trying to say was that your irresponsible behaviour had actually made your flames reach its limit. "You're just addicted to throwing a few punches."

"That's not true!" you shouted, balling your fists in anger at what felt like an insult to you.

The redhead raised an eyebrow at your antics and you immediately calmed down as you saw that he may have been telling the truth.

Seeing you relax visibly, he held his hand out for you to grab it so that you could return to the bar. He didn't miss how you were feeling rather miserable, knowing that you had lost these powers that could have been of great use sometimes, so he decided that he should try and cheer you up.

"At least you won't burn anything down in your sleep?" he offered with a tiny, probably fake smile.

One could have even heard the smack of your fist against his cheek while walking down the street a few blocks away.

* * *

With Izumo laughing his ass off at Mikoto's lovely red cheek and Mikoto himself having a look on his face that spelled certain doom, the other boys and you knew that it was wise to hide behind the bar and watch things unfold.

"How can he be so carefree when King is looking like that?" Rikio mumbled.

"Kusanagi-san must be really scary when he's mad, then," Masaomi added.

"Can't you do something about it, Haruka?" Yo asked you.

You shuddered at the thought of revealing your presence in front of your King. You had just punched him in the face after he tried his best to make you feel better, but then again, you were a woman and he was a tactless man. It wasn't like you had destroyed his bedside table on purpose.

When the tense air remained after a few minutes of silence, you decided that enough was enough. You had to do something about this, or else someone might actually get killd!

Everyone watched you as you got up and carefully made your way towards the angry redhead. Standing in front of him, you noticed how some of the hardness in his eyes disappeared at the sight of you. Were you hallucinating?

"Sorry, please forgive me, I shouldn't have hit you." You bowed down deeply, so deep that your hair fell over your shoulders and almost touched the floor.

A hand fell on top of your head and you expected him to smash you against the ground or something, anything aggressive, but the ruffle of your hair wasn't what you had anticipated. At the action, the tension in the air lifted almost immediately and everyone let out a sigh before starting to gab happily while you remained bent over, your hair completely frizzled now.

"I'm glad you're back," Mikoto whispered and you jerked back up at his words to stare at him in surprise, but he quickly averted his gaze to somewhere else. The chattering continued, maybe a little too loud to be sincere, and you wondered if you had been the only one to hear, or if they were just pretending they hadn't in fear of what might come.

The doors to the bar swung open all of a sudden and a happy Tatara walked into the building, followed by a somewhat less cheerful Ayame. She was still pretty shy when it came to the new members, but with just the four of you, she already dared to open her mouth by herself, without a gentle nudge.

"What have you two been up to?" Izumo was the first to break the second silence that day and he managed to make Ayame blush in just one sentence, something that used to happen less with every day. Not when it came to Tatara, though. It was pretty obvious what was going on between those two.

"We were on a date," Tatara declared happily, as if he were announcing their marriage. It probably wouldn't surprise anybody if he had though, with the amount of time they had been spending with each other the past few days.

You remembered the surprise you had felt when you came downstairs by yourself once you had recovered only to find the two of them sitting on the couch together, their hands entwined. They had tried to hide it, but you had noticed it anyway and the smirk you had sent their way hadn't gone unnoticed either.

Tatara came over to sit on a stool at the bar, figuring he should try to give his male friends some attention too, so you took his place by Ayame's side and went to sit on one of the couches together with her. You purposefully chose the sofa that was farthest from the other clansmen, deciding it was time you had a nice chat with your friend. You hadn't managed to have a proper one since you had seen her get killed, as weird as that may sound. After that you had been too sick to have a coherent conversation that lasted longer than five minutes and when you had finally recovered, you immediately used all your time for either school or 'training with Mikoto', as you liked to call it.

"Are you doing okay?" Ayame asked before you could say anything and you looked her over, checking to see if she was still feeling guilty. If what you saw was the truth, then you could conclude that she had gotten over it. At least partly.

You shrugged with a small smile on your face. "Yeah, well, Mikoto just told me that I've abused my aura too much and that I lost a lot of it. I don't even know how that works," you admitted slowly. Then you added, "But that is not your fault! It is also from how I acted before that..."

Ayame held her hands up in an attempt to calm you down and nodded before she offered you her thoughts on the matter. "Kings have Weismann levels, right? When that reaches its limits, something like the Kagutsu Crater will happen... Can't the Kings' clansmen experience the same thing?"

"I really don't know," you sighed, resting your head on the table as you kept your eyes trained on Ayame who seemed to be thinking again.

"Or maybe the Kings give their clansmen a certain amount of power and if that is depleted too fast to recover its previous amounts, it'll keep getting less and less?" she suggested.

"You mean like the shape a person's body is in? As in, you train an hour every day, for years and then you suddenly start doing three hours a week instead so in a few weeks time you can't do the same amount of training anymore?"

Ayame nodded a little, though she wasn't really sure if one could compare it with something like that. "Maybe?"

You let out another sigh as you turned your head so that your chin was resting on the table and you could look straight ahead, at the boys who were sitting at the bar, conversing cheerfully. Of course your gaze lingered on a certain person in the group, maybe a little longer than necessary.

"How did you and Tatara do it?" you wondered. You hadn't been planning on saying that out loud and wouldn't have even realised that you had if Ayame hadn't answered.

"Do what?" She probably knew what you were talking about.

"Well, you know..." You didn't really know how you were supposed to describe it. Were they going out? Were they in love? Were they in a relationship together? Then you remembered Tatara claimed that they had gone out on a date. "Go out on dates?"

You watched how Ayame swallowed and actually managed to stop that blush from creeping over her cheeks before throwing a bomb at you. "Mikoto?"

"O-of course not!" Now it was your turn to blush brightly, your lack of experience hindering you from forcing it down just like Ayame had done mere seconds ago.

Ayame raised an eyebrow at you but didn't dig any further, bless her. Then she started to think about your question, thought back to the very beginning, tried to remember how and what exactly had happened.

"There was already something when we first met..." Yes, you could remember that yourself too. You had been attacked by Tatara who then refused to let go of you as he went to drool over the new-found friend you had wanted to introduce to them. "And we just started talking, got to know each other. He helped me feel better about myself. I don't really know if I ever gave something in return though..." she trailed off, lost inside her memories for a moment.

"Then he just asked me out a couple of times, to get something to drink, stuff like that. It started when you... He just wanted to help me, because I felt horrible, that's what I had thought back then, but..."

You waited for her to continue, almost as if someone were telling you a very scary story and you wanted to know how it ended. "But?"

This time she couldn't stop her face from changing colours and you had to hold back a grin as you realised that something must have happened this morning.

"Today, he said that he liked me. Not in his usual Tatara way." You realised she had shifted from "Totsuka-kun" to "Tatara". "You wouldn't understand!" she almost cried out then, but she had to hold herself back so you wouldn't get any weird stares from the others.

You smiled at her, feeling excited that this had happened. They both really deserved someone special and they seemed to feel comfortable around each other. That wasn't as much as an indicator for Tatara, who would probably feel great sitting next to a homeless guy with a knife, as it was for Ayame, but it was the thought that counted, right?

Now it was Ayame's turn to stare at you with an expectant look on her face and you realised she wasn't going to let you off the hook now without a story of your own. She must have noticed how great it was for others to listen to her once in a while, so she wasn't going to miss the opportunity of giving someone else the pleasure of being listened to. Again.

"So, you and Mikoto," she started in an attempt to spur you on when you didn't start by yourself.

"No, it's not what you think," you quickly replied while frantically shaking your head, almost giving yourself a headache by doing that. She wouldn't give up and only shifted closer to you, thinking that it would help if she gave you the opportunity to whisper it to her.

And it actually _did_ help.

"I'm not sure yet, I just think I have this crush on him," you mumbled while indicating a small gap between your index finger and thumb. "A tiny crush."

Ayame cocked her head to the side, a confused look on her face. "That's not true. If it were a crush, you'd be staring off into the distance happily all the time, you wouldn't be able to think of anything other than him," she whispered back at you before adding, "Plus, have you seen the way he looks at you? Either he likes you too, or he's some stalker who likes to see if his female vassal is still around or something."

You didn't believe what she said, but still you hoped that what she was saying was the truth. Of course, with a man like Mikoto the best thing was to be straightforward and right-in-front-of-his-face and not use hints like women tend to do, otherwise it might take years. Thinking about it like that, you suddenly understood that having a serious relationship with someone like Mikoto was going to take years to build anyway. First you would actually have to find the courage to tell him your feelings, which could easily take up a few months as well. You didn't expect him to take the first step. If you were ever hoping to start anything with that guy, you'd have to be the one to approach him.

Wait - when had you even agreed to liking him?

Were you even ready to attempt to build something with him?

No, probably not. Not right now, at least. But you could try to grow, to become the woman he could love with all his heart until his very last day, right? And he could shape himself into the man you would want to stay with for the rest of your life, too.

Ayame had been staring at you throughout your whole inner debate, waiting for you to finish your ramblings with yourself and respond to her without any prodding or poking from her side.

"I think you're right," you finally replied, feeling rather happy with yourself. You didn't notice her surprised look, probably wondering in which aspect she was 'right', and merely got up to find something to drink for you and your friend.

* * *

That's what you had told yourself, that you would gather your courage to take the first step, but actually doing so was a whole different matter.

What were you supposed to do, anyway?

Confess?

Ask him about his feelings?

Hug him?

You were still sitting downstairs, staring at the ceiling, though it was already past your bedtime. Not that you really had a bedtime, but when Mikoto decided to go to bed it was often an appropriate time to go to sleep yourself too.

The words "Mikoto" and "bed" seemed to make your brain formulate a plan that it didn't want to share with you, if that was even possible, and before you knew it you had bid Izumo good night and were on your way upstairs.

Izumo smiled at you and waved you off before quickly rushing to take a new customer's order.

Once you had walked up the steps, your feet seemed to hesitate for a split second. Then the wooden boards were creaking once more as you unwillingly made your way towards Mikoto's door.

When you entered his room, you saw that Mikoto lying in his bed, his back turned to you and your mind wandered back to the very first night that you had stepped in here with the intention of sleeping on his couch. You quietly closed the door behind you and tiptoed over to his bed, somehow managing to pull off your shoes, socks and trousers on your way there without tripping or making too much racket. In the meantime Mikoto had turned around to look at you and that same moonlight was pouring in through that same gap between the curtains as you crawled under the covers to lie down next to him.

"Hi," you whispered and in your nervous state, an awkward giggle escaped your lips which earned you a strange look from the redhead. He didn't say anything in return and merely let his eyes glide over your face, probably searching for any hints of discomfort like they always did.

Wasn't that enough of a sign to take this chance?

It was now or never.

Now or never.

_Now or never._

You wrapped the arm you weren't lying on around his body to pull him closer and before he could protest, you pressed your lips to his.

_"This is your first kiss with him so you better make it awesome!"_ a voice inside of you yelled like it was some kind of cheerleader.

So you gave it your very best and pulled back after not getting an immediate reaction from the redhead, but you wouldn't give up and you went back in there, nibbling and licking away at his lips in this awkward, clumsy newbie way.

Maybe he had been frozen in shock or something, but it didn't take long until you could feel him relax under the tips of your fingers that you ran up and down his body and he finally opened his mouth, his tongue shyly rubbing against yours.

At first you couldn't believe that this was what kissing felt like, it was so different from what you had expected, but then you couldn't believe that you were kissing _Mikoto_. The guy that the girls at school could only dream about because they were too scared to approach him. Because he would never think them worthy of his presence, probably. But he had accepted you.

_And now you were kissing him._

His hands found their way into your hair, his calloused digits gently grabbing and tugging at the tresses as he pressed his body against yours, tried to dig deeper into your mouth, tried to get so close to you that the only way to get any closer would have been to have sex with you.

If he had been this desperate to touch you, to hold you, then why had he waited for you to make the move?

_Because he was Mikoto. That was how he was._

_Maybe he had been afraid to hurt you?_

The kiss went on and on and it seemed like it was never going to end. Not that you wanted it to. It felt like the two of you were getting out all the tension that had been built up by being around each other, not realising or voicing the feelings that were being pent up inside. Right now you were probably even busy with your third or fourth kiss by now because there were moments when you just had to pull back and gasp for breath before diving right back in.

Mikoto pulled away slowly and it immediately became clear to you that the kiss was over this time. A tiny smile appeared on his face as he rolled onto his back with a deep sigh, pulling you with him so that you were practically lying on his chest. Without another word, the two of you fell asleep.

Though the redhead fell asleep first and you were left to wonder about what had happened.

What were you guys now? Lovers? A couple? You didn't dare wake him to ask him, afraid of what his answer might be.

That was just the first of many, many mistakes that you were going to make when it came to your relationship with the King.

* * *

**[A/N]: **helloooo readers! First of all, thank you for reading ^^ I hope you guys like it so far! Anyways, I just wanted to inform you guys that in the past 10 chapters, we have progressed almost 1 year and that the next chapter will take place about 3 years after this chapter. We will be seeing Anna, Yata and the others then~!


	11. Junkies for Fame

**[A/N]**: Because of certain reasons I changed Ayame's name to Ayame (which means Ayame in Japanese, ha) and I am really, really sorry for any inconveniences this might cause (like people not reading the A/N's first and wondering "Who the fudge is Ayame?!"). For the time being, the focus of this story will shift a little from Haru to _Ayame's_ relationship with Tatara, because of reasons you guys will get to read in this very chapter. And because Mikoto is too thick and Haru too much of a coward for any development in their relationship to be possible at the moment, lol *shakes head at the two*

* * *

**Junkies for Fame**  
_Get rich, get high, get drunk on your desire. Stand back, relax, now watch me start a fire.  
I don't think they take me serious, normal life makes me delirious._

~ Three years later ~

It was just another normal day at HOMRA. The few boys that were in the bar were watching some program on TV, screaming the lungs out of their bodies while acting like monkeys. Anna, another Strain who had recently joined the clan after a huge fight with Scepter 4, was drinking something Izumo had fixed for her while she sat next to you and Mikoto as you all watched the boys be idiots. Ayame and Tatara were probably out doing lovey-dovey stuff, while you were sitting here, still being practically just friends with the redhead that you had slowly but surely fallen in love with. But despite being older and more mature now, you were still just as big a coward as you had been years ago and had never managed to motivate yourself enough to ask about what had happened that one night.

Speaking of Ayame, though, the story of how Anna had joined HOMRA was quite interesting. You didn't know all the details, only that her parents had died and she had been sent off to live with her aunt, but because of certain reasons that hadn't worked out quite as well as it should have and somehow the Gold King had gotten her into a facility that was posing as some kind of hospital where, in reality, Strains were kept and learned about their powers.

Anna, however, had been placed in a part of the facility that had been under the control of a different Gold Clansman, a certain Miduchi Koushi, who happened to be some crazy scientist who wanted more power and to that end, he had used powerful Strains to become the new Blue King - a King he could easily manipulate. Anna had been chosen by him to become linked with the Dresden Slate, but no matter how many times he had tried, it would not work and in the end he had chosen to use pain on her.

It was around that time that the suspicions that the other Usagi-members had managed to leave the facility and started roaming through the city. When Mikoto heard of this, he had called all of HOMRA to raid the place and free her. The huge fight Scepter 4 started because they were guarding the facility and when a few months later, by some sick kind of fate, Munakata Reisi was chosen as the next Blue King, Ayame had double the heart attack.

She had already seen the facility, seen what happened to Strains who weren't as lucky as she had been and then her brother became a King, restarted Scepter 4 and became one of HOMRA's greatest rivals. It was quite understandable to think that she didn't go home as much as she used to, especially seeing as how Tatara had left his house and was living at the bar too now.

It was really becoming quite lively, though. Masaomi and Yo had started sharing their rooms and Rikio had to share his with a newcomer: Fujishima Kousuke, a funny bloke who brought in stray animals all the time. Then there were Yata Misaki, a skateboarding hothead, and Fushimi Saruhiko, a rather mysterious boy, who shared their rooms. Bandou Saburatou was the lucky one who had gotten a room for himself. You shared your room with Anna, being the only free woman around here, seeing as how Tatara and Ayame had gotten inseparable these days. And of course, Mikoto and Izumo both had their own rooms as well.

Anna spent most of her time with Mikoto and though you were a little jealous of her, you granted her that 'privilege'. Not just because she could probably read your mind and tell Mikoto every single thought you had about him, but because of everything she had been through and the fact that she needed him more than you do. And anyway, she seemed to have gotten quite attached to you too. How was that not possible when most days of the week she slept in your bed, anyway?

A loud noise pulled you out of your train of thoughts and you looked up to find the members who had been out return all at the same time, but not in the state that they had left a few hours ago.

Tatara was helping a limping Misaki into the room while Rikio and Saruhiko were right behind them. Ayame tried her best to follow them while pressing her hands against the boys' bodies, attempting to make their wounds heal quickly.

"Give me that first aid kit, Kusanagi-san!" the Strain shouted over the sound of the other members yelling energetically as they tried to figure out what had happened.

Izumo swiftly handed you the box, because you were closest at the moment, and you jumped over to aid Ayame with the boys.

"What happened?" you asked as you helped Tatara set the skater down on the nearest couch so that Ayame could tend to the nasty-looking wound on his thigh that his hand was clutching at, pain written all over his face as he took in shallow breaths.

"We were just hanging out when Yata-san heard someone badmouth Mikoto-san and he practically exploded," Rikio explained in the poor boy's stead. Ayame ripped Misaki's shorts from the bottom up so she had better access and then gently pressed her hand on the bleeding cut, hoping this wasn't one of those wounds her powers wouldn't accept.

You could see how Misaki bit his lower lip in an attempt to not groan in pain, not wanting to seem 'weak' in front of the others. Especially not in front of Mikoto.

"But Misaki's one of our best fighters. How did he get wounded by someone who was just badmouthing Mikoto?" you asked no one in particular, waiting for Ayame to finish with his leg you could patch up the rest if that were necessary.

"One of them had a hidden knife that he used when Misaki wasn't looking," Saruhiko replied. He didn't miss the absence of a reaction from the skater at being called by his first name. Misaki never liked it, not even when it came from you, who used everybody's first name.

The very moment Ayame dropped her hands from Misaki's leg, you investigated the wound and felt your stomach drop when you saw that there was still quite a wound left, but not as bad as it had been and the bleeding had stopped for the most part. You mostly worried about how Ayame was feeling, seeing as how she once again had 'failed to heal' a clansman.

"Good job, Ayame. Go and check the other boys too, okay?" you said to try and encourage her. You almost sighed in relief when you saw her nod and move on to the next victim.

You disinfected the injury, just in case, and with your free hand you placed Misaki's hand on your shoulder so that he could grab on to something to hold in his pain. You didn't understand his need to not make a single sound but you weren't about to let him do something he felt so uncomfortable with either.

While ignoring the sting as you felt him dig his nails into your shoulder from disinfecting his leg, you rapidly wrapped a roll of bandages around the lesion and fixed it so that it couldn't shift easily. "There, all done."

Even though you were one of the worst fighters in the clan, together with Tatara, you had earned your place through patching the others up after their almost-daily scuffles. Ayame and you made the perfect healing-team that could possibly exist and within no time, all the wounded members frolicked around and got wounded all over again.

"You should rest," Ayame told Misaki, noticing the paleness of his face. The amount of blood that had dirtied his pants made it pretty obvious that he lost quite a bit of it. Not enough to be very dangerous, but he'd still have to take it easy the next few days.

Misaki frowned at her and wanted to say something in protest, when he saw the look you gave him, a look that told him that maybe he could have convinced Ayame, but not you. Everyone was always very soft and gentle with Ayame, the girlfriend of HOMRA's pacifist, but they knew she could become weak when using the puppy eyes. You, on the other hand, you were rather close with their King and especially Misaki, who treated Mikoto like some kind of god, looked up to you and wouldn't dare disobey most of your orders. That didn't mean he didn't dare to act cheeky against you, but it was obvious that in that moment he didn't really feel like being stubborn.

With a grumble, he reluctantly let Rikio and Saruhiko help him up the stairs to his room where he would fall asleep as soon as his head hit his pillow.

Once the three boys had disappeared up the stairs, the usual bantering began again and while some of the remaining members went back to watching TV, others opted to talk about what had happened, mumbling about how hot headed Misaki could be and how there had been many people badmouthing their King lately.

You and Ayame followed Tatara to sit by said King, the bartender and Anna and the couple started to talk with Izumo about something you didn't quite catch as your mind began to wander about like it loved to do.

Watching Ayame and Tatara interact with each other, you couldn't stop yourself from feeling a little jealous as your eyes flickered in the direction of Mikoto who drank some alcoholic beverage, a cigarette captured between his index and middle finger. He was just old enough to drink and smoke and already loved it to bits, apparently.

You tried to keep your gaze hidden as you let your eyes inspect his face, realising that he looked rather tired. Or maybe that was the alcohol doing its job? You looked his hair over, seeing how it had grown in the past few years, still as unruly as ever though. You wondered how many times you had pulled your hands through the strands while kissing him passionately only to end up feeling confused and broken when you found you still couldn't bring yourself to ask him how he felt. There was never a change in his behaviour towards you, except for that hidden concern that now got buried underneath the responsibility of being a King.

But he had never asked you about it either and he didn't strike you as someone who couldn't sleep until the birds actually started chirping because they were too busy wondering and worrying about what the Hell was going on.

It was like the two of you had this fight going on, the fight of who could be the most stubborn one, without either one of you realising it. Not that you knew whether he even cared at all. Would he ever get to know how he had rocked your world?

A sentence that was spoken suddenly went into one of your ears and went out through the other, but something got stuck on its way back out.

_…marry me…_

Silence fell over everybody in the room, except for the TV in which somebody screamed in pain, the sound of blood splattering all over the place closely following it. Someone picked up the remote and turned it off quickly before going back to staring at what had just been said.

"What?" Ayame managed to squeak, her face becoming a tomato as she saw the full attention she got all of a sudden.

Tatara merely grinned widely, albeit nervously, and got up from his chair to stand in front of the flustered woman. Much to her dismay, though it wasn't as if they could have been receiving any more attention at this point anyway, he kneeled down in front of her and pulled something out of his pocket.

It was a ring, simple yet beautiful at the same time.

Just like their relationship, now that you thought about it. They never really had any fights and when they did they were over in the blink of an eye. Always together, there wasn't a day that you didn't get to see them press their lips together at least once. Whenever HOMRA went out, they held hands, just like they did in every other possible moment.

At times, you found it hard to keep the bitterness away from your heart whenever you saw them glued to each other, but in those moments you'd force yourself to think of the many times that they had tried to give you advice on your situation.

"Munakata Ayame," Tatara started once more and coughed once to build the suspension even more. Not like everyone didn't already know what was going to happen. "Will you marry me?"

Ayame started to fidget dangerously, a lot more than she should have been doing in such a situation. If one were asked if they wanted to marry the love of their life, wasn't one supposed to dance around and scream 'yes' happily? Instead, this woman played with her glasses and her shirt and her trousers and her glass standing on the counter, looking everywhere except at the man she loved with all her heart. She _did_ love him with all her heart, _right_?

The sight of Tatara's smile faltering for a fraction almost broke your heart and you had to hold yourself back from screaming 'yes' in her stead.

"Ayame?"

She swallowed before _finally_ redirecting her look towards the poor, hopeless boy who was kneeling in front her. "O-of course I want to m…marry you! But… I want my brother's approval first…"

The awkward silence turned into an uneasy one at the indirect mention of Munakata Reisi, the man who enjoyed thwarting HOMRA as much as he desired. It was easy to forget that they were family with the differences between the two. You were probably one of the few people who realised just how much they were alike. Acting like Mikoto's secretary most of the time and apparently being one of the few HOMRA-members he considered 'worthy of his presence', it was mostly you who relayed messages between the two clans when he didn't send one of his people over, so you had gotten to spend quite a lot of time with him in the past few months.

Tatara's smile returned with vigour and he nodded happily. "If that's what you want, then sure! When do you want to ask him?

* * *

**Reply to Knyttet's (guest) review:  
**It makes me happy to hear that you like reading this story, I always try my very best to make it as good as possible so that others can enjoy it just as much as I do. And I'm sorry for immediately rating this story M, that might have caused some confusion for other readers too, but I'm not yet sure when something M-rated will appear, or if I will even manage to gather the courage to write anything like that at all! I'm a horrible writer aren't I; I'm 18, love reading lemons but afraid to write them myself, oh dear! If you, and also **other readers**, would like to see some **smexy stuff** later on, I **would like to hear** this (and also what kind of stuff everyone prefers) so I can mentally prepare myself for any writing I may have to do in the near future! xD


	12. Slow Dancing In A Burning Room

**[A/N]: **first of all, SORRY! For the late update! I was so busy with studying for my final finals (harhar) that I couldn't find any time to write. Luckily I'm now finished so I've got lots of free time to write for my lovely readers~ I hope you guys like this chapter... You may notice that at some point I'll shift from using "Munakata" to "Reisi", this is because this chapter revolves around Ayame, who of course calls her brother by his first name.

There is also something I would like your opinion on: would you readers prefer if I continue writing this story as "you" or should I switch to third pov?

The song "Slow Dancing In A Burning Room" belongs to John Mayer.

* * *

**Slow Dancing In A Burning Room  
**_It's not a silly little moment; it's not the storm before the calm.  
This is the deep and dying breath of this love that we've been working on._

~ One month later ~

One-twelfth of a year.

Almost a month.

Four weeks.

Twenty-eight days.

It had taken poor Tatara twenty-eight days to convince Munakata to make some time free for his future brother-in-law so that he could test whether or not his sister's boyfriend was worth the trouble. Despite rarely seeing his sister these days, the Blue King was still concerned with what went on in her life and found it a little sad that he had to hear those things from you. But he didn't think it fair to judge the man standing in front of him solely for being the reason why his sister chose to stay away. If he really wanted to break his spirits it was going to have to be something more personal.

Still, Munakata hadn't pushed the HOMRA-member away each time he came to visit because of that, he was the Blue King and leader of Scepter 4 after all, some people were unlucky enough to have to wait months to get an audience with the man.

"Fine. What do you propose, then?" Munakata asked, the tips of his fingers touching as he looked at Tatara over the rim of his glasses. Tatara merely smiled at him, making Munakata raise one of his eyebrows, wondering what he might be planning.

"Why don't we stay at your house for a few days?" Tatara then suggested and held his hands out in front of him, palms turned upwards, as if he were asking Munakata to take hold of them.

Without letting his eyes stray from the young man, Munakata took out some kind of notebook from a drawer in his desk and flipped it open to where a bookmark was placed. Only then did he look away from Tatara to search through the pages. He turned one page, then another, and another, and _another_, and many more, until his fingers stopped all of a sudden, tapping the paper a few times.

"That is possible, yes. You will just have to wait a few days first," Munakata informed Tatara as he put his agenda back in its drawer.

The smile on Tatara's face widened and Munakata almost found himself feeling guilty for him. "Five weeks, to be exact."

Munakata was surprised to see the smile remain intact, the boy not seeming even slightly fazed by the news. Maybe he was fit to marry Ayame, then? Yes, of that Munakata was already sure, even though he was part of HOMRA, but he wasn't going to let her go without at least saying goodbye properly.

* * *

~ Five weeks later ~

Nothing much had happened in the next few weeks. Misaki had made a full recovery and was back to being his usual, bigmouthed self with Saruhiko following him wherever he went, shaking his head in dismay at his friend's behaviour. Yo had started bringing women back to the bar, something Masaomi _really_ enjoyed as he had to sleep in Saburatou's room whenever that happened.

The only thing out of the ordinary was the excitement hanging in the air as the day that Tatara and Ayame would get to hear whether her brother approved of their relationship kept crawling closer. All the boys had gotten riled up after they had heard the deal Tatara had made with Reisi, yelling that it wasn't his choice to make. But the very moment they saw Ayame's downcast look, they forgot what they had been going on about and let it be.

"It'll be alright," you had told Ayame, patting her on the shoulder when you had noticed she was still wearing that depressed expression. It was in that moment you had realised just how much she still cared for her brother, being completely torn between the love of her life and the brother who had always taken care of her. You hadn't been able to stop yourself from thinking about your parents, remembering how you had chosen for Mikoto without a second thought.

Had you already loved him back then, or had you just been glad that a chance to get away from your parents had shown itself? You would probably never know for sure, but the sadness that overwhelmed you at the thought of at least your mother seemed to favour the former.

Today was the day that Tatara and Ayame had to return to her home once more and everyone was hyped up about the event, giving the couple encouraging words and tips on how they should kick the Blue King's ass.

After lots of fretting from Ayame's side while Tatara was being as laidback as he always was, hands firmly clasped together, they arrived at the doorstep where they needed to be. Ayame looked up and suddenly realised she had made so many memories in this building that it almost hurt to think that she might be leaving this place for good the next time she would leave walk out through this door.

The reason why she was doing all this gave her hand a squeeze as he noticed her distressed state, but he didn't want to force her into talking about it. He knew fully well that if he did then he would make it worse, so he decided to ring the bell instead.

It didn't take long before the door opened and there stood Munakata Reisi, looking rather intimidating even when wearing casual clothing. But Tatara wasn't going to let his mood get beaten by the one and only obstacle holding him back from marrying his girlfriend.

"You're earlier than I expected," Reisi commented as he let the two of them into the house like they were just regular guests. The surprise in his voice, however, was obviously fake.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Ayame mumbled once she had followed Tatara inside, who walked around as if he owned the place. She immediately took off her shoes and carefully placed them in the spot that she had always put them, noticing that the shoes of her mother were still there, just like those of Reisi's.

Ayame had never known her mother. She had died while giving birth to her; that was something she had felt horrible about the first few days after finding out. If it weren't for Reisi and his mother, she would probably still be a complete wreck.

Straightening her back, her eyes fell on a picture that hung on the wall, as if by coincidence. A picture of her mother hung there, her blue eyes almost staring into the violet ones of Ayame. She didn't look a lot like her mother, but luckily the only thing that she had inherited from her father were her eyes. The rest of her appearance was some kind of mix-up from her parents and probably theirs too. That which Ayame had gotten from her mother was her personality, and for that she was very thankful.

As she climbed the stairs after the two most important men in her life, she listened to her brother while he gave Tatara a tour around the house.

"This used to be my mother's room."

Tatara didn't say anything in return and only nodded. He had heard the confusing story about Ayame's situation years ago.

Her father had cheated on Reisi's mother with Ayame's, who had been a young girl of seventeen back then. Disowned by her parents after finding out she had gotten pregnant, she had visited the Munakata house only to find the man she had slept with was married and had a baby with someone else. After hearing the whole story, Reisi's mother immediately divorced and took the poor woman in herself. When she died during childbirth, Reisi's mother decided to take care of the child as if it were her own.

"This is Ayame's room." Reisi gestured towards the door, his brows raised at Ayame as if waiting for a signal as to what he should do then. Ayame smiled slightly, still feeling rather awkward towards her brother, and nodded.

"We'll be sleeping in this room for the next few days," she added before following them into her room.

"It fits you perfectly," Tatara commented with a bright grin as he inspected his surroundings.

It really wasn't that impressive, it was actually quite small, but it was still perfect. The bed might require some squeezing to fit the two of them in, though. What Ayame found the most heart-warming about the sight of her room, was how her brother probably hadn't even touched the door, leaving it all there just in case she might need it again someday.

Ayame knew Reisi could be a distant and calculating person, but she also knew that she would always have a special place in his heart. At least, that's what she hoped.

Without further ado, Reisi showed Tatara where the bathroom was and pointed his own room out to him, which was considerably larger than Ayame's. The reason behind this was that they had used to share this room; Ayame's room had belonged to her mother in the few months that she had lived there. It didn't take long until Reisi and Ayame started wondering about the bedroom that nobody seemed to use and when they heard the story, Ayame immediately wanted to use it as hers, keeping all the items that were inside as memories of the mother she never got to know. Of course, that didn't mean that she stopped stealing her brother's bed once in a while, hogging all the covers for herself when she did so.

Reisi led them back downstairs and went to show Tatara the living room and kitchen. It was then that they noticed what time it was – lunchtime – and they decided to eat something. Reisi still had some leftovers from the day before, so he decided to warm them and serve them as lunch.

"Itadakimasu," everyone said simultaneously before digging in.

After a few moments of silence, the two men started making some small talk while Ayame remained silent. She was still pretty confused with the fact that her brother was acting so casually around someone from HOMRA, the group he despised so much because they were just a bunch of tyrants. Plus, being the worried brother he was deep inside his shell, she knew he wasn't going to let her go without at least some kind of fight.

"How is work?" Tatara asked Reisi before chewing on a piece of meat. The man sitting opposite of him continued eating, his face not showing any signs of thinking. Or anything at all, for that matter.

"Busy, as usual. Keeping a city as tidy as possible is a difficult task," Reisi finally replied after swallowing, his eyes calmly trying to find out what his future brother-in-law's reaction to his statement was. It wasn't difficult to realise what he had been talking about.

Tatara merely looked a little disappointed, but not for the expected reasons. "You do get enough time to relax, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Reisi replied, slightly taken aback by the response he had gotten as he straightened his back. He had finished his lunch already.

"Then what do you do?" Tatara asked him before popping another clump of rice into his mouth, humming softly at the delicious taste.

Ayame and Tatara were astonished witnesses of a rare sight, seeing Reisi hesitate for a split second. It had barely even been there, but they had both noticed it, Tatara squeezing his girlfriend's hand underneath the table. "I enjoy doing puzzles."

"Oh, that sounds interesting," Tatara commented while carefully laying his chopsticks over his now-empty bowl. "Maybe I should try it too, sometime. Could I lend one of yours, maybe?"

"Of course…" Reisi told him. It was now his turn to be surprised, finding the picture of someone from HOMRA doing a puzzle rather odd. But then again, he knew from the very beginning that Tatara wasn't one of their usual members, otherwise he wouldn't be sitting in this very house in the first place.

Ayame had finished eating long before the others, patiently watching them as they discussed seemingly trivial subjects that were actually part of an underlying test. She had even had a silent one-sided conversation with the chair next to her, the one Reisi's mother had always used. She wasn't there anymore, because she had died in a huge car crash a few years ago.

The actual self-loathing had started back then. Ayame had hated herself for having this so-called 'blessing' that gave her the capability to heal wounds, yet she never seemed to be able to save the people closest to her. Her blessing felt just like a curse to her. It was only after meeting Tatara that she started to value herself as a normal human being.

"I'll do the dishes," she quickly volunteered and she got up, collecting the bowls as she did so.

"Let me help you." Tatara followed her into the kitchen, leaving Reisi alone at the table.

He didn't seem to mind however, and merely turned around in his chair to watch the two of them work together. Even though this was just the beginning, he already knew what the outcome was going to be.

* * *

The day had passed by so quickly that it seemed as if Ayame had blinked and suddenly found herself lying in her bed, squashed against her future husband. She remembered she had been having a dream, though it had actually been a memory.

She had dreamt of her tenth birthday and they had been one small happy family. How had all that changed in what felt like so little time?

"What's wrong?" Tatara mumbled sleepily, Ayame's sudden movements having awakened him.

"Is this really a good idea?" Ayame murmured, on the verge of bursting out in tears so she bit her lip to keep control over herself just a little longer. The silence from Tatara's side wasn't making this any easier. Had he fallen asleep again?

All of a sudden, he shifted closer, if that was even possible in this tiny bed, until their noses were touching.

"You're thinking that if you marry me, you'll never be able to come back here, don't you?" he whispered, gingerly pressing his fingers against Ayame's cheeks as they started to become wet. "But that's not the truth."

Ayame looked up all of a sudden, as if hearing this for the first time. She was greeted by Tatara's soft smile, showing he understood that she indeed hadn't thought about anything other than that this would be her last time here, in this house, in this bed. That was who she was, sometimes just thinking of the worst possible outcome and fixating herself on that one option, preparing herself for when it might happen. And Tatara loved that part of her, just like he loved every other part of her.

"But we can always come back here, whenever you like. Why is it that you didn't come back here after graduating, after becoming part of HOMRA?" Tatara asked her as he stroked her hair to calm her down.

"Because… I thought he wouldn't agree," Ayame replied uneasily, not wanting to think of her brother's face when she started coming home less frequently.

"That's right. But you know just as much as I do that there is no way that that guy is going to stop letting you enter this house."

Ayame didn't reply, but she didn't have to as Tatara tucked her head against his chest, pressed a kiss against her hair and held on to her until they both fell asleep once more.

* * *

"Good morning," Ayame greeted her brother, a smile on her face as she went to sit next to him on the couch as he read the newspaper.

Reisi looked up in slight surprise, realising this was the first time she had looked directly at him for more than a few seconds since arriving. He didn't put the paper away completely and just lowered it a little to show that more of his attention was going to his sister than to ink letters right now.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" he inquired, his eyes flitting over the title on one of the pages. It was about a case Scepter 4 had recently closed, the reason why he had found some spare time for his family.

Ayame nodded in response and the peaceful look on her face told Reisi this was the truth. Then she returned the question, "And you?"

Reisi merely let the corners of his lips twitch upwards as he turned his attention back to the newspaper for a split second. It was something about HOMRA, and he had to do his best to hide his sudden irritation.

"I see you've kept mother's collection," Ayame mentioned all of a sudden, nodding her head in the direction of a table standing against a wall in the living room. On top of it were many abstract forms of art: an elephant with a rather unique design, many photos with seemingly random swirls, a vase with some kind of African motive painted on it…

Ayame remembered that Reisi had often threatened to throw it away, because it was ugly and inhuman, but apparently he hadn't done so after all. Her smile widened at the memory of how their, well his, mother had laughed at his threats, retorting by saying something that art would always survive the actions of malicious people.

"She might come back to haunt me if I threw it out," Reisi joked. This time it was his turn to surprise his sister, whose eyebrows rose a little at what he had said. She had expected this side of him to have been replaced by his blue uniform, but here she was sitting next to her brother, joking just like old days.

_"But you know just as much as I do that there is no way that that guy is going to stop letting you enter this house."_

"Re…" Ayame started, but she quickly corrected herself. "Brother, do you really not mind me marrying Tatara?"

Reisi stopped flipping through the pages and folded the papers before turning to look at Ayame, looking her in the eye, trying to find any traces of the emotions she might have felt in that moment. He could see she had grown up and he suddenly noticed how her posture was different from what it used to be. She was no longer a self-conscious teenager; she had turned into a semi-confidant woman. Though Reisi would never admit it out loud, he knew that without Tatara and the rest of HOMRA, she would have never been able to develop into the beautiful human being she was right now.

There were no signs of self-loathing or of doubting herself and her abilities. There was only love for the people around her visible in her eyes, the will to do anything she possibly could for them.

He smiled a genuine smile and shook his head. It was either this, or risking being the one to take away his sister's chance of happiness.

"I'll come back often, I promise." Reisi understood that he would always be one of those people who were very important to this girl, and for that he was grateful.

The grin that appeared on Ayame's face was enough to convince Reisi that this was the right choice. And anyway, it made him a little happy to see that his opinion on this matter had meant so much to her. He didn't doubt for a single moment that she would actually blow the whole marriage off if he hadn't give his consent.

"Good morning!" Tatara called out cheerily as he entered the living room, a towel covering his still-damp hair.

Reisi didn't answer him and just got up, throwing the newspaper on the dinner table as he made his way to a nearby cupboard. He kneeled in front of it, opened it and pulled a box out which he placed on the small table in front of the couch.

"What's this?" Tatara asked, curiously taking a look at the cover of the lid. Apparently it was some kind of puzzle with a thousand pieces, and Tatara remembered that he had asked if he could lend one from Reisi.

Ayame smiled softly and slid off the sofa to sit on the floor before opening the box with great care. After placing the lid next to her on the ground, she started to fish through the pieces inside.

"This was your first puzzle, wasn't it?" she murmured rather absentmindedly as she found a corner and placed in on the table next to the box.

Reisi and Tatara both went to sit on opposite sides of the table, so that there was only one unoccupied side left, and went to help Ayame. In no time the edges of the puzzle had been found and the atmosphere that hung in the air between the three of them had turned far cosier than they had ever expected it to become.

Yes, this would do just fine as a final goodbye.


	13. Shed Some Light

**[A/N]: **because apparently people don't read the A/N's these days, I decided to write a little MikotoxHaru love to make up for the lack of them in the previous chapter. Also, thank you to everyone who has faved/followed/read/reviewed this story, I'm really glad that there are people who enjoy reading this ^^ Enjoy~

* * *

**Shed Some Light  
**_Shed some light on me and hold me up in disbelief and shed some light on me and tell me something that I'll believe in._

~ Four months later ~

"What should we do?"

"Where should we do it?"

"When should we do it?"

"How are we going to do it?"

"How much should it cost?"

"How much can we afford?"

"Should we do it, after all?"

These questions were being thrown at your head the past few months until you couldn't take it anymore.

"Just do one thing a day, so that you think over all the possible options and make it as good as possible," you had suggested and Ayame had accepted it, calmed down remarkably in a few seconds before starting everything over trying to decide what they should plan on that day.

"Why don't you just figure out who you want to invite today?"

Everything had gone well since then, but once the four month mark had been hit, all Hell seemed to break loose once again.

Sitting next to Mikoto, you had been complaining about how tired you were getting of all this planning and how you never wanted to get married yourself, when Ayame burst in through the door.

She ignored the looks she was getting and stormed towards you, panic obvious in her eyes, but that had already been pretty evident in the fact that she wasn't blushing because of all the attention she was getting.

"Haruka! It's been four months since I said yes to Tatara!" she yelled in between pants.

You gave her a blank look while counting the days in your head. "Ah, I guess you're right. And…?"

"And we still aren't halfway done with planning! You just had to go and tell me to do it one at a time and now this!" She was obviously exasperated and the deep breaths she was forcing herself to take weren't helping at all.

"No, no, no! First of all, I _suggested_ you do that, I didn't _tell_ you that was the way to go. And anyway, I didn't know there was an expiration date on the word yes?" you quickly defended yourself while glancing at Mikoto for help.

He merely shrugged and looked away, obviously not interested in helping you at all. Oh, all the things you were going to do to his balls, and none of them good, that motherfu-

"What am I supposed to do?!" Ayame suddenly burst out in tears, sliding to her knees in front of you and shocking everyone nearby. Yes, sure, everyone had seen her panic before, but to actually overreact like this…

Saruhiko seemed to be the first person capable of reacting properly again so he kneeled down next to the distraught woman. He wasn't befriended with a lot of his clansmen, but seeing a female comrade in trouble would always make him feel uneasy. "What's going on?"

"I want to marry Tatara, but it's already been four months and we're still nowhere near done, and all he can say is that it'll all work out somehow, but he really isn't helping and… Is this really a good idea?"

Oh dear, there it was again. The doubting of their relationship. It was funny how they had never questioned each other before, but since the moment they decided to prove their love to each other, all the flaws were starting to surface at once. At least, Tatara's flaws were… Nobody ever heard the poor man complaining about his lover's qualities himself.

Misaki piped up as well now, joining his friend by Ayame's side. "Why don't we just help you, then?" he asked her, but he didn't get a response.

Once they had returned after their 'trial' with Munakata with their good news, everyone had jumped up in excitement, spouting out the most impossible ideas for the wedding. But Ayame had declined the help back then, wanting to do it just with Tatara. Deep down she wanted it to be perfect and she felt afraid that might get compromised if she let the others join in.

But something hit you all of a sudden, a sentence that had been spoken months ago that no one had paid heed to back then. What had Ayame said?

Oh, right. _"As long as it's done in six months."_

You left your spot beside Mikoto, who had been looking over the situation without a lot of interest as he probably didn't care about the typical 'women problems', and went to join Saruhiko and Misaki next to Ayame.

"Ayame, you had said something a few months back. 'As long as the wedding is planned in six months'? Something like that?" Your words piqued her interest and she straightened slightly to look up at you with a nod of her head.

"Yes. I wanted… I wanted the wedding to be on my mother's birthday. Which is in a few months," she admitted carefully, scratching her head awkwardly now that she was slowly noticing the stares that were being directed at her. Luckily Tatara wasn't around, otherwise the whole situation might have been even worse.

Now that was more like the Ayame you knew. She could be a huge worrywart if she wanted to, but you also knew she wasn't one to rush something like her relationship without a reason she didn't find worthy enough.

"So we've still got a few months, right?" Izumo asked as he leaned against his counter to see Ayame nod, who then decided to get up and sit on a chair near the bar.

"If you let us all help, then we should be able to manage, right?" Rikio tried to assure her.

"The bar." Anna quietly stated, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. She noticed no one understood what she meant, so she decided to elaborate. "The wedding in the bar?"

You looked over at Ayame, trying to gauge her reaction to Anna's idea, and could see that it didn't bode very well for the little girl so you decided to interrupt her train of thoughts before she could say anything stupid.

"Ayame, just because you can't do it alone doesn't mean it's not going to work. If we decide anything you don't like, you can just say it but don't push us away completely. We're one big family, right?"

Ayame closed her eyes, let her shoulders sag considerably and let out a long sigh, all the stress leaving her body in one swift motion. Then she opened her eyes again, this time looking thoughtful instead of panicky. "But what about my brother?"

A wave of murmuring went through most of the men in the room. Munakata couldn't possibly come if they were to have the wedding at the bar. He wouldn't want to show up by himself and the rest didn't exactly feel comfortable with the thought of him being there either.

"He can bring the rest."

Silence dominated the room immediately after the sentence had been spoken, all eyes staring at Mikoto as he lazily drank from his glass. He didn't even look up at the sudden stillness as he went on. "Of Scepter 4, if he wants."

You couldn't stop your lips from turning into a big smile. Somehow, you felt proud of how the redhead, that idiot, was willing to push all grudges aside for a few hours for the sake of his dear comrades.

"Thank you," Ayame whispered, awe for her unofficial King spreading throughout her body. Those two words were enough to cause an eruption of a happy cheer from the other HOMRA-members.

Though almost everyone disliked Scepter 4, they too were willing to forgive them for one day if their King could do so too. As long as it made Tatara and Ayame happy, they would try their best to suck it up.

"See, this isn't as bad as you thought, right?" You placed a hand on Ayame's shoulder and smiled at her. Then you turned your head to watch the rest of HOMRA celebrate this one tiny decision and shook your head in despair. "Now if those guys don't go and throw a party with everything we plan, we might make it in time for your mother's birthday."

* * *

"What's up?" Yo asked you as he, Masaomi and Saburatou sat next to you and Anna at the bar.

You had been hunched over a bunch of papers, staring at all the different pictures printed on them and the many words that no longer seemed to make any sense to you after running your eyes over the lines for three hours straight. Lilies, magnolias, marigolds, mayflowers, moonflowers, morning glories, narcissus's, orchids, phlox's, sugarbrushes, roses, snowdrops, stars of Bethlehem, sunflowers, violets, mallows, lavenders, primroses, forget-me-nots… You would probably be spending your remaining years dreaming about flowers.

Was the colour important? Was it just supposed to be beautiful? Or did the meaning have to fit the occasion? If so, then the jasmine would fit with its eternal love. But the peach blossoms symbolised bridal hope. And what about the red rose for true love? The tulip, on the other hand, stood for undying love…

"I want to do this perfect, for Ayame, but I can't." You groaned and rested your head on the stack of papers, finding it rather weird that something like this could make such a nice pillow.

Anna and the boys leaned over to examine your collection, quickly gathering what this was about. "What colour should I pick? What flower? What do I do…"

Masaomi scratched the back of his neck while Saburatou and Yo continued to try and make sense out of your seemingly random scribbles, ignoring the occasional stick figure you had jotted down in your boredom.

"Red…" Anna murmured absentmindedly as she went back to drink the glass of water that Izumo had given her quite a while ago. How she drank so little was beyond you, but she seemed healthy enough so you guessed there wasn't any reason to worry.

You perked up at the mention of a colour, but your excitement died down again when you remembered Anna loved red, her favourite colour. If it were up to her, _everything_ would probably be red.

"What about red iris's?" Yo asked all of a sudden, looking rather thoughtful afterwards. "Do they even exist?"

You immediately picked up your pencil and wrote that in big fat letters across the page that had been lying on top of the other papers. "Well, they do now!"

* * *

"Look, this shop has dresses and tuxedos!" Tatara stopped in front of a shopping window that showed many suitable clothes for their wedding. After a quick glance, he went inside with Ayame, Mikoto, Izumo, Anna and you. You tried your best not to cringe at the sight of all the frills as you made your way through the shop.

Tatara had decided that they wanted normal suits with red accents for the men – because HOMRA was the Red Clan after all – while Munakata and his 'friends' would come in the same black suits, but with blue accents. For the bridal gown, Ayame wanted something white and simple. For the first time in her life she chose to be at least partly in the spotlights and even then she wanted it to be as little as possible.

Anna and you being the only two women present, the two of you got to choose your own dresses, as long as it was something red. Anna wasn't having any trouble with that, running around the store with Izumo following her as she searched through the racks of dresses. She even seemed to be a little _excited_.

You, on the other hand, were having a hard time dealing with the lack of trousers in the vicinity. Mikoto had decided to tag along with you, why you had no clue but you did know that you didn't like it one bit. You didn't want to think of the embarrassment of having to try on a dress in front of that damned redhead.

And anyway, you had never done this kind of shopping before. Your mother had always brought the ones you had sometimes decided to wear when the stars were just right, but you yourself didn't have any idea as to how you were supposed to choose. Whatever you did, it had to be _perfect_, just for your friends.

"What… what about this one?" you stuttered in shame as you showed Mikoto a sleeveless dress that would probably fall just over your knees. It was white, but the woman working here had said that they could change the colour or something like that.

Mikoto's face didn't show any signs of whether he did or didn't like the dress as you held it up in front of your body to try and figure out how it might look like on you. The thought of Mikoto thinking the same made you feel flustered, so you thanked his indifference just this once.

"Why don't you try it on?" he then suggested with a shrug. It was obvious he didn't like being in this shop either, and on second thought, he did look rather odd standing in the middle of all those dresses. Poor Mikoto.

You contemplated his idea for a moment before nodding and making your way to the changing rooms. On your way there, you grabbed a few other dresses that caught your attention, just in case you'd need to try more than one model.

Inside the tiny room, you tried to strip your clothes off as fast as possible before wriggling yourself into one of the dress. Not a very easy task to do when you barely had enough room to stretch your arms.

Though luckily there was a mirror inside this tiny room. A plus point after all, because you didn't want to imagine the humiliation of having to walk outside in public in a dress that might look horrible on you, and a presence just outside the curtains told you that Mikoto was there, waiting for you. The thought of standing next to the redhead, almost completely naked, made your face burn a bright red that seemed even more visible than it should have thanks to the white dress.

You found the sleeveless dress a little too… unfit for a wedding and carefully folded and placed it on a small stool in the room before moving on to the next one. This one had wide, short sleeves and didn't even reach your knees. Was this even appropriate for a wedding?

That is how you spent the next… give or take thirty minutes, trying to find even a single dress in which you would dare to show yourself to the world. Even Mikoto, the man who could sometimes stand in the same spot for hours without ever really getting bored – or so it seemed – walked off eventually. Though part of you was relieved with the pressure of his aura gone, part of you felt ashamed for yourself that you had managed to bore him away.

"God damn it all," you muttered as you battled with the zip on the final dress that you had picked to try on. Even though it was the same size as all the others that had fit, this one was giving you trouble. It was as if you had gained a few pounds in the minutes you had spent in this cursed dressing room.

You almost ripped the dress off, carefully though, and just stood there for a few moments, trying to gather your thoughts as you felt hopeless and stressed out by the whole situation. Why were you being so difficult, anyway? It wasn't like anyone was going to look at you on that day.

Your attempt to try and calm yourself down went the wrong way and before you knew it, you found yourself on the verge of crying. But just before you could actually show any signs of your feelings, the curtains closing the room were suddenly pulled to the side. Standing outside was Mikoto, his face somehow less unemotional than before as he held up a red dress.

With a high-pitched squeal, you quickly tried to cover your lack of clothing with your arms. Despite having made out with him many times, the two of you had never removed any clothing yet and the romantic side of you had wanted to keep his first time seeing you like this for later. For never, preferably, but that was beside the point.

He eyes never strayed from yours, though, as he wiggled the dress around to make it grab your attention. It worked and your gaze fell on the deep red colour of the dress that looked like one of those that Anna always wore, with various layers.

You couldn't help but think how beautiful it was and quickly took it from Mikoto, who closed the curtain again. _After_ stepped into the changing room with you.

Looking up at him in surprise, you were just about to ask what he was doing when he reclaimed the dress and draped it over your head to pull it down with ease. It fit really well and the touch of his fingers against your back as he closed it was enough to stop you from wondering how he even knew what size clothing you had.

Noticing the shiver than ran down your spine, he rested his chin on your shoulder and watched your reflection, his hair tickling the side of your face as he did so. You followed his stare to the mirror but barely registered what you looked like in that dress. Instead, you seemed to be captivated by his orbs.

You watched as his hands appeared from behind your back and his arms embraced you, while his lips pressed gentle kisses against your shoulder. The dress had a rather low cut, but it gave him the perfect opportunity to taste the sensitive skin.

"M-Mikoto?" you stammered, not quite sure what to do in this situation

Mikoto was just about to turn you around when suddenly Izumo's voice sounded from behind the curtain. "Haru? Where's Mikoto? Are you almost done in there?"

You pulled away from the redhead, for as much as that was possible, and called out, "Yes, I just have to change back again."

"Do you know where Mikoto is?" A shadow fell over the curtain, telling you Izumo was standing in front of it.

"Uh, yes, he's here. He was helping me with a zip," you replied as your eyes scanned Mikoto's face as he properly explored the sight in front of him. After all, it wasn't every day that you wore a dress.

"Yes, helping you with a zip." Izumo's response was followed by laughter as he left again. "Is that what they call it these days?"


	14. Carried Away

**[A/N]:** oh my lord, it's been more than a week already! I hope you can forgive me for the delay, I have been quite busy... with... gaming... I can't help it, I've fallen in love with James Vega from Mass Effect 3! Thank you all for the patience, though. I hope you enjoy this last chapter of the 'Tatara and Ayame get married filler arc', before we move on to the introduction of the next arc, followed by more semi-fillers because Haru and Mikoto seriously need to work on that relationship of theirs. So stay tuned, please? :D And thank you for reading!

* * *

**Carried Away**  
_There's no reason to be afraid, you can't blame yourself for the world's mistakes.  
Now it's time to let it go._

~ Two months later ~

Somehow, you made it just in time. On the day Ayame's mother would have turned thirty-eight if she were still been alive – bless her soul – everything was set and the happy couple was ready to get married.

At least, not before visiting her mother's grave.

So here you were standing outside on this beautiful day, at the graveyard. Ayame and Tatara were both kneeling down in front of her mother's tombstone, saying their inner prayers while you and Mikoto stood a small distance behind them to give them some privacy.

Why were the two of you here? Because the almost married couple both wanted to bring an important person from inside HOMRA with them and apparently you two were their first choices.

Glancing at the time on your phone, you noticed you should get going if they didn't want to miss their own wedding. "Guys, we've got to go."

Tatara nodded and stood up, tugging at Ayame's elbow to make her follow his lead as he did so. With one last goodbye, the group made their way back to the bar to get ready.

* * *

The bar had been completely restyled just for the occasion. All the tables and stools had been removed and only the chairs remained, having been placed so that they resembled the rows of chairs in church. The plan was for the bride to enter via the stairs and to walk to the other side of the room between two rows of chairs, where the groom and the officiant would be waiting. Afterwards, the tables would be put back so that people could sit during the reception, but there would also be enough space for the guests to dance. Just outside the bar was a spot reserved specially for the smokers, who would have to smoke their cancer sticks there for the day.

In that moment, you were lounging on Ayame's bed upstairs, at least as much as possible with this dress, watching one of her friends from high school who was (conveniently) a hairdresser do her hair. You shivered at the thought of the layers of make up on her face, deciding in that moment you never wanted to get married.

Sitting next to you was Anna and she turned to you, holding up one of her red marbles as she seemed to sense your discomfort. She cocked her head to the side, as if not quite understanding your hate for make-up. She was only nine years old, so you couldn't really expect her to either.

A knock on the door pulled you out of your thoughts and it slowly opened to reveal Munakata standing there, looking quite handsome in his suit. That smile he was wearing on his face was only adding to it, and it was great to see him so relaxed while in the headquarters of his 'nemeses'.

"Hello there," he greeted the bride before his eyes flickered over to you as he noticed the smirk you threw in his direction.

"Thank you for coming," Ayame replied in her soft voice, a blush managing to fight its way through all the powder on her cheeks. She felt a little embarrassed that her brother got to see her like this, but she had wanted him to come in the first place.

You got up from your position on the bed and went to greet Munakata properly, leaning against the wall as he did the same against the door opening. "So, Munakata, how does it feel to see your little sister marry before you could even find a girlfriend?"

"Who says I don't have a girlfriend?" Munakata shot back at you as a smile that matched yours appeared on his face. "Anyway, I am but a year older. You, on the other hand, are _two_ years older. You also know the man you like longer than you have known her and _still_ haven't started anything official with him."

Ack, you should have known that he knew and that he was willing to use it against you whenever the possibility would arise. But your fake-pleasant smile stayed in place as you muttered, "Damn."

"Anyway, the men downstairs are becoming impatient and you know how barbarians can be. I'm afraid they might break something if you're not ready in time," Munakata told Ayame.

Ayame grumbled something under her breath, probably something about still having fifteen minutes till it starts and for once agreeing with her brother about their tempers. You let it pass this once, normally being the one to calm her down whenever they frustrated her but this time you understood her feelings.

"How long do you think this is going to take?" you asked the friend whose name you had forgotten. You could swear it started with a 'T'.

"Not long," she replied as she did something with Ayame's braid, something that looked a lot like magic to you. Not long, she said, but she could be one of those women who claimed thirty minutes was 'not long'.

To prove me wrong, she took a step back to admire her work before smiling and patting Ayame on her shoulders. "There, all done."

While Ayame thanked her for her help, you pulled Anna along to go downstairs and tell the others to be patient for just a few more minutes. Munakata was going to act as Ayame's father and escort her down the 'aisle', so he stayed in the room with her.

"Alright everyone," you yelled at the top of your lungs to quiet everyone down. By some miracle it seemed to work immediately and all the boys who had been running around worked up like mad abruptly sat down in their seats. Even when wearing a dress you had the upper hand over their wildness.

Mikoto was sitting at the front row and it almost looked like he was sending an apologetic smile your way, but you ignored it thinking you were starting to become delirious by all the energy the boys seemed to be emitting. Anna was tugging you along as you gave Misaki, who was looking like he was planning on doing something unwanted, a warning look. Still, you were glad that he was some fun again after Saruhiko's 'betrayal'.

Anna sat down next to Mikoto and you went to sit next to her, her grip on your fingers firm as she obviously felt the exhilaration from the HOMRA-members practically oozing out of their bodies. Thank god Tatara had decided against ushers and bridesmaids, otherwise the whole wedding would have been an even larger chaos than it already was.

"Is it safe yet?" Izumo asked as he popped his head in through the front door. He had been chosen to be the best man, because Mikoto obviously wasn't the right person to do something like that. Make speeches and decorate cars? Mikoto? No… Just no.

You gave him the thumbs up and he disappeared again before reappearing with Tatara and the officiant they had hired for today by his side. A cheer went through the crowd behind you at the sight of Tatara in his suit and you realised all of a sudden that the men looked like they were part of some big mafia group at a meeting.

Tatara and Izumo sat down next to you at the beginning of the row while the officiant went to stand in front of the center, between the innermost rows of chairs to look over the crowd. What he saw was a rowdy red half on the left side, and a calm blue half to the right.

As if a silent signal had been given, someone cleared their throat and all eyes went to the back of the room, to the top of the stairs. Munakata was standing there, tall and proud as he held his hand out to the side, to someone the rest couldn't see yet.

Obviously it was Ayame who was being like Ayame, suddenly too shy to show herself like that. Before her brother could give her a pep talk, she had already given herself one, reminding herself of why she was doing this. She was going to marry the man she loved and live the rest of her life together with him, surrounded by a large family also known as HOMRA.

She stepped out from behind her cover and a sigh went through the crowd as they saw her. Though she may not have been the prettiest girl they had ever seen, somehow she had become just that. Probably because of the occasion, the magic of becoming a wife?

Together with her brother, she went down the stairs, one step at a time. She was wearing their – his – mother's beautiful necklace, which he had given her a few minutes ago. She had wanted Ayame to wear it on her wedding, as 'something old'.

Around her wrists a pair of bracelets was dangling about. HOMRA had bought that as a wedding present and though all pockets were now empty, everyone was glad about it. Plus, now Ayame had something new to wear.

Something had to be borrowed too, of course. You had opted to find something that you could lend to her and after hours of searching through your belongings, you had found the perfect item: a keychain with a picture of your parents on their wedding day, back when everything was still perfect.

And to fit the saying – something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue – Scepter 4 had given her a blue scarf that she was wearing as a decorate belt as she finally reached the last step.

Some kind of hip version of the wedding tune started playing as if out of nowhere, and Munakata and Ayame started their way down the 'aisle', towards the officiant who was standing there with a smile on his face. He almost looked proud.

In the meanwhile, Tatara and Izumo had gotten up and were waiting for the bride to arrive. Izumo was carrying a small pillow on which two rings were resting while Tatara was wearing a huge smile on his face. Anna squeezed your hand and had apparently done so to Mikoto's as well as you both looked down at her in concern and surprise, both relieved to see that she was just completely absorbed in the moment.

It was weird, but also good, to see Anna like that. But it really just meant that everyone had something that could stir something inside of them, even with this little girl who rarely showed any signs of actually having emotions.

Ayame finally arrived at the front, her cheeks red as she shot a small, uncomfortable smile your way before she took her spot standing in front of Tatara while Munakata went to stand behind her, to the blue side.

With a cough from the officiant, all was silent and he stepped forward so that he was standing next to the couple now.

"We have all gathered here today, to celebrate the joining of this lovely couple…" he started, but then he remembered that Izumo had told him it would be best if he didn't make his speech all too long and fancy. The average attention span of a HOMRA-member usually wasn't very long. "And so I would not like to stand in the way of their official bonding any longer."

Izumo stepped forward with the rings, and Tatara picked one of them up with great care, slowly sliding it onto Ayame's finger afterwards. Ayame did the same with the other ring and they ended up holding hands

"I now pronounce thee husband and wife," the officiant announced as he held out his arms to touch the newly weds before turning to Tatara. "You may now kiss the bride!"

And he did so, an enthusiastic cheer coursing through the room as an immediate reaction. Ayame looked rather flustered once more but Tatara held her hand and smiled at you and everyone else while they, just as planned, rushed outside to wait for the couple to come out as well.

Everybody started throwing rice as they walked down the street with a row of people on each side, laughing all the while as it ended up _everywhere_.

Then it was the photographer's turn and he made loads of pictures, had already made a lot of them inside, but was now making official ones. One with Ayame and Tatara in front of the bar, one with all the men and one with all the women – which was rather awkward, because there were only four of them, including you, and Awashima Seri was reluctant to even step close to HOMRA without a sword in hand. After that one, the photographer wanted one picture of everyone.

Once the pictures had been taken and the mood between HOMRA and Scepter 4 seemed to be getting a little better, Ayame decided to shoulder toss her bridal bouquet. Because there were, like aforementioned, only four women, some of the boys decided to join in as well.

So Ayame threw it over her shoulder and immediately swirled around to see who caught it, and much to everyone's surprise it fell right on top of little Anna, who hadn't even been trying to catch it. Not like anybody had really been trying to catch it, though.

She picked it up and stared at the flowers, even pulled out one of her marbles to investigate them, and when she finally confirmed it was indeed a bouquet of red irises she ran over to the side where Mikoto was standing. He looked down at her in mild surprise as she practically thrust the flowers into her face.

"Mikoto," was all the said as she looked up at him with big eyes, expectant. And with a sigh, Mikoto reached out and grabbed them from her, which made a smile appear on Anna's face.

But then his eyes flickered to you and you could imagine feeling your heart stop beating. As one might have guessed, you hadn't talked to him after the 'dressing room incident', the tension upped even more now. And here he was, his eyes stealing glances at you while holding a freaking _wedding bouquet. _If that was a sign, then why didn't _he_ hurry up and make the first official move?

There was not much more time to linger on those thoughts as the newly weds announced the start of their reception. Munakata decided to leave with Scepter 4 before everyone drank too much alcohol to play nice any longer and with a sad look Ayame agreed, to which she received a pat on the shoulder from her brother.

Inside, everyone practically started stuffing their faces with all different kinds of food and it didn't take long until Izumo cleared his throat and announced that Tatara was going to hold a speech. Normally both the bride and the groom had to say something, but because Ayame hated attention and had gone through more than enough for her tastes, she had decided it'd be better if she didn't say anything.

So Tatara starting talking to everyone, thanking them for their presence and whatnot, but you couldn't concentrate on what he was saying for much longer – and you felt really guilty for that – because a certain redhead was sitting in front of you, his eyes sometimes going from Tatara to you and you couldn't help but feel a bit pissed off.

He was the one who kept on starting your 'episodes' but he'd never take responsibility for them and now he was giving you the classic signs of being interested in you. In a second now he might put a hand over your knee or start pressing his feet against yours or something.

Everyone stared clapping all of a sudden and for a moment you felt even worse because you had been thinking about yourself throughout Tatara's speech, even though today was his, _their_, day. Luckily that didn't last long as you managed to grab a hold of a glass of wine and immediately started drinking.

The couple then went to cut the wedding cake they had ordered and it almost hurt to see them cutting pieces out of something so beautiful. It was almost art! Anybody who had been thinking that forgot it the very moment they received a piece too, the deliciousness making them forget everything for a moment.

Once everybody had had at least one piece of cake, Izumo changed the music on the juke box into some more… danceable and a few of the boys – Yo, Rikio, Saburatou and Masaomi – went to rock the makeshift dance floor. Tatara and Ayame joined them, not caring about the rules of who should start dancing first and all that crap.

After a few more glasses of wine, you decided to join in on the dancing, pulling Misaki and Kousuke along with you, who slowly started dancing by shuffling there feet and swinging their arms around a little. Their embarrassment made you roll your eyes as you let the alcohol do the work for you.

By the time you had danced with everybody else – Yo even grabbed your butt because of all the alcohol he had drunk – Izumo came along with some more drinks for everyone. You gladly took two glasses, giving the bartender a cheeky grin when he threw you a fake warning look. Then he put the now-empty tray away and came to dance with you, a smirk on his face as he moved closer to you. You returned the gesture as you rubbed your hip against his.

It was always fun flirting with Izumo, because he usually joined right in without making anything serious out of it. You were best friends, after all.

A house-remix of a tango-song came on and you suddenly grabbed him by his arms, trying your best to be seductive as you moved along. He went along perfectly, even leaning down as if going in for the kiss and licking his own lips with a sly smile. Despite not actually having any feelings for him, you could feel butterflies flutter inside your stomach. How was it that this man hadn't found himself a woman yet?

By the end of that song you were already starting to sweat. From the corner of your eyes you noticed Mikoto's red hair and wondered if he was jealous right now. Izumo seemed to notice and came a little closer. "Still haven't talked, I see."

You glared at him, your flirty mood gone at once. Then you just shrugged and looked away. Izumo sighed as he ruffled your hair and left the dance floor to make sure everyone was happy, leaving you alone again.

When the heat finally did end up getting to you, you decided to go outside for a bit. Because of your luck, Mikoto was also outside though you hadn't even noticed him leave. He was smoking and staring up at the starless sky.

"Hey," you whispered as you sat down next to him. Maybe now was the chance to talk to him?

He hummed in response but didn't say anything, making you smile a little. After all those years, it seemed as if he was starting to talk less to you. Not just to you, but to everyone actually, no matter how hard you tried to push it the other way. And in the end, you just gave up and decided to leave him be, to accept him for who he was: your stupid, sometimes hot-headed King.

You didn't manage to find the courage to finally ask him about what was going on between the two of you but in that moment you didn't mind. You felt quite comfortable sitting next to him, watching the few bright stars that managed to peep through the smog in silence and you eventually stole his cigarette from him, much to his chagrin.

Neither of you said a lot, if anything at all, and neither of you seemed to mind either. Time passed by rather quickly and before you knew it Tatara and Ayame were announcing their departure for their honeymoon.

Everyone cheered and waved as they drove off and somewhere along the line Mikoto's hand became attached to yours, fingers intertwining as you went back inside to enjoy the music a little longer before everyone went to bed.


	15. Enemies

**[A/N]: **damn, it's been far too long! And I'm really sorry about that! I've just been enjoying my holidays a bit too much, playing Mario Kart all day and stuff, but I'm really going to try and make up for it. Anyway, about this chapter, I wanted to show the 'darker' side of HOMRA, where they are willing to ruthlessly kill their enemies because I really feel that that's how they are.

* * *

**Enemies**  
_It's a cold, cruel, harsh reality; caught, stuck here with your enemies.  
Who do you think you are, tearing us all apart?  
Where did you think you could go? 'Cause everyone already knows it's twenty to one so you better run._

Quite a few months passed by peacefully with the usual scuffle here and there, Ayame and Tatara returned from their honeymoon and slowly but surely, with lots of help from others, you seemed to be getting closer to Mikoto. You had now reached the point where all the clanmembers knew _something_ was going on, but it wasn't quite official just yet.

The two of you would spend a lot of time together, with Anna of course, whether upstairs in his room doing whatever you felt like doing while being in the company of the other or outside enjoying the fresh air. Sharing the same bed became routine once more, much to the amusement to the other boys (and embarrassing poor Misaki).

All that was abruptly interrupted, just like things usually happened around here, when Masaomi and Yo entered the bar, their clothes stained with blood. Normally when that happened, the boys would be wearing proud grins on their faces and most of the blood wouldn't be theirs, but this time they were grimacing and the red spots belonged to themselves.

Silence fell before everyone came back in action: Misaki and Rikio helped them out of any restricting clothing while you and Izumo – Ayame and Tatara were absent – tried to clean up the blood to investigate the actual state of their wounds. Luckily it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

Anna watched in disbelief and even Mikoto was showing a hint of his emotions. He seemed surprised, almost as if he were expecting something more behind all this.

"What happened?" he asked and though nobody questioned his motives for getting involved like this – normally he didn't step up and just let others take care of things while he made sure nothing went wrong – they all wondered what was going on.

"The… the Yakuza…" Masaomi stuttered in response, causing everyone to stop with what they were doing for a moment in disbelief.

"The Yakuza? Why would they do this to HOMRA?" you asked no one in particular as you finished bandaging Yo's leg. He shrugged tentatively at your question, careful not to hurt his shoulder with the action.

"They said we were getting to big and they wanted our territory."

A snap attracted everyone's attention, followed by a yell from Izumo as he saw where the sound came from. Mikoto's hand, wrapped around a (luckily) empty glass, had clenched too hard and broke it, more blood spilling in the room.

With a sigh, you quickly got up and made your way to him with the first aid kit, softly pushing Anna away just in case he might do anything else so rashly. You winced at the sight of Mikoto's eyes: furious, distant. Not directed towards you, but somewhere far away, thinking of many possible ways to burn the Yakuza and leave no ashes behind.

"Mikoto," you whispered, trying to get him to concentrate on you as you carefully pried the broken glass away from his hands. Ignoring Izumo's cries and the uproar of the other HOMRA-members who had of course felt Mikoto's murderous intent, you carefully wiped his hand clean and rolled a bandage around it. You knew it wouldn't survive very long and get burned the very second he got a hold of one of your new enemies.

Once you were finished, he gave your hand a tiny squeeze before getting up and finally showing the clan some much-needed leadership. "Masaomi and Yo stay here. Haru, you take care of them while the others come with me."

"You bet your ass I'm going to stay here! I'm coming with you, Tatara and Ayame can check up on them whenever they decide to return!" Though it delighted you to hear him say such a long sentence, and your name, you didn't like what you heard at all. The state in which he was didn't bode very well for the city and someone had to at least try and keep him from burning everything. You had yet to find out that _you_ might be the one who needed to be controlled.

Mikoto didn't feel like delaying his hunt any longer and merely sighed before pulling on his coat and leaving the bar. Masaomi and Yo didn't exactly like being left back, but they realised that they couldn't be of much help with their wounds.

Roaming through the streets of Shizume City with the other clanmembers practically surrounding you and Mikoto, you couldn't help but wonder whether you should feel proud or embarrassed. The usual people who lived nearby knew when something was going on and you couldn't help but ask yourself if the clan wasn't bothering them with their antics.

"How are we going to find those bastards?" Rikio asked after a few minutes of walking, probably getting bored of the peace.

"We should split up," Misaki suggested as he readied his skateboard.

That thought managed to rile the group up once again and they somehow managed to make a competition out of the hunt.

"And let you get to them first?" Saburatou clicked his tongue as he went to sprint ahead of the group, trying to get a head start but that didn't work out so well seeing as Misaki easily caught up with him with his board.

"At least don't go alone! And be prepared!" you screamed after them, feeling like the mother hen as usual. You let out a sigh and shook your head when you heard Misaki yell for Rikio to get his 'bike' while Kousuke ran after them to join up with Saburatou.

Because Mikoto probably counted for a whole clan, he went with Anna – why he allowed her to come was beyond you – so you went Izumo. But not before giving the redhead a look that promised death if he somehow managed to get hurt. He returned the look and you had to concentrate on the situation at hand in order to ignore the flutters in your stomach. _He cared about you._

Izumo was grinning at you as you walked next to him and you pouted at him. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," he replied nonchalantly. "Except that lovely blush on your face."

Of course it had to get even worse after his comment.

"You noticed? It's a new type of make-up I wanted to try. What do you think?" You patted a hand against your hair and looked into an invisible pocket-mirror, puckering your lips as if you were checking out your appearance.

"It's really great. Makes you look like a girl who's freshly in love… And that after so many years."

"Yes, yes, I get it. We're really slow. But I can't help it…" you started, but at the sight of Izumo's raised eyebrow you stuck your tongue out at him. "Okay, maybe I can. But he could at least _try_ and make it a little easier for me."

"There have been some improvements since the wedding, right?" Izumo prodded carefully, happy to see you give a slow nod in response.

"I guess so. But it's still not… real, you know? We haven't said 'I love you' yet, or shared a normal kiss that only couples can give. We haven't even confirmed what we feel for each other yet…"

Izumo placed a hand on your shoulder and gave you a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, it's Mikoto. You know how he can be and especially in the love department he is really horrible."

When you laughed at his encouragement, he decided to go on. "Before we knew you, there was a girl in Mikoto's class who had a crush on him. It was so obvious to everyone except himself, and even a love letter didn't help him much. He thought the wrong person had gotten it. Imagine the heartbreak that girl had to go through when he never changed his attitude towards her."

"Was he really that oblivious?" you asked him in surprise, to which Izumo shrugged.

"I don't know whether I'd call it oblivious or thick… Is there even a difference?"

"Let's go with thick… Very, _very_ thick…"

Now, destiny seemed to have this funny thing for you, always choosing the people most unfit for the situation to get caught up in it.

Gunshots rang out loudly all of a sudden, scaring the shit out of you and rendering you unable to protect yourself and Izumo, but the bartender took care of this by quickly flicking with his lighter and creating a couple of fireballs. They engulfed the bullets that had been shot in your direction and burned them to dust.

You ignored the rests of the bullets as they were blown into your face and immediately took on a defensive stance and investigated the attacker. He wasn't difficult to spot, because of the gunshot all the other people who had been up and about had scuttled off as fast as they could.

Standing at the other end of the street was a tall and slender man with hair that seemed to be held in place by lots and lots of shiny gel. He was wearing black formal pants and a white tank top, probably to show off the tattoo sleeves decorating his muscled arms. He smirked and something inside of you snapped as you realised that this was the guy you were looking for. He was the one who had challenged HOMRA and had hurt your friends.

His smirk widened as he turned around and ran off, and before Izumo could stop you, you were racing after the bastard with everything you had. And that was quite a lot, because running had been your life before HOMRA and you were still one of the best at it.

Izumo's calls had disappeared before they had even started as you followed the Yakuza-guy. You didn't care whether he was luring you into a trap. You _should_ have cared about the fact that you weren't the best fighter, but that wouldn't occur to you just yet.

As the two of you neared the end of another street, the man suddenly stopped and turned back to you, aiming his gun at you once more. You faltered for a second as your mind raced for a way out and without thinking you used your flames to build up a shield just in time. It wasn't enough, though, and one of the bullets managed to graze your left arm. The sudden pain helped you reach the deep pools of leftover aura inside of you.

And just in time, too, as you used the reserve to jump higher than humanly possibly in front of the man who stood still and stared for a moment before slamming your leg back down to the ground. Your foot hit him on his shoulder, but it wasn't enough to immobilise him and he quickly ran off again, though slower than before.

The difference in abilities remained the same as you both had lost one arm, but you could see that the Yakuza-bastard was still having fun as he was grinning whenever he turned to look at you.

"Shouta-san!" Misaki's voice pulled you out of your rage and you slowly came to a stop. How the other guy was able to keep up for this long was beyond you, because even your legs were starting to get tired and your arm was making you lose the will to have your revenge.

You turned and saw Rikio riding towards you on his motorcycle, Misaki hanging on the back while on his skateboard. Rikio stopped shortly for you to hop on while Misaki started a short conversation.

"What happened?" he asked you, nodding his head in the direction of your arm while keeping his eyes on the road and his skateboard.

"He's got a gun," you explained curtly, but in that moment there wasn't much time for anything else. "It's him."

Misaki nodded and when you had caught up with your enemy, which didn't take much more than a few seconds, he let go of the bike to have a go at the bastard. Rikio let you off at a safe distance from all the destruction Misaki was sure to create in his fight and went to find the others and tell them the news.

Much to your surprise, the Yakuza-guy was holding up pretty well against HOMRA's vanguard, but your mind was far too muddled to follow exactly how he did it. Before you knew it, he was trying to escape again, significantly slower than first, and you joined Misaki in his pursuit. The two of you easily managed to catch up with him, but something the Yakuza-guy saw made him change his path to the left, to a tall skyscraper that could make people's legs hurt by just thinking of the amount of stairs it contained.

Mikoto was standing at the other side of the street, his hands in his pockets as he lazily made his way to the ordeal with Anna next to him, but you knew his eyes were almost blazing with fire.

"We've got to get after him!" Misaki yelled eagerly, thinking that the Yakuza-guy had trapped himself by going into the building. You, on the other hand, were wondering if maybe _you_ were walking in a trap.

However, the rage of one single person – at least there was only one up till now – challenging your clan came back again and you couldn't really care less. "Let's get going!"

You ran towards the building, Misaki close behind while Mikoto said something to Anna before following. They allowed you to go first, knowing you were the fastest of the group, and before they knew it you had disappeared from their sights as you practically flew up the stairs.

While you, Mikoto and Misaki were making your way upstairs, the others arrived there as well thanks to Rikio. He and Izumo stayed outside with Anna while Saburatou and Kousuke went up the stairs as well, eager to get their revenge too.

Almost reaching the door to the top, you couldn't help but feel that all this was far too easy. Finally on the rooftop, you realised why: it _had_ been a trap. But apparently it had failed.

"What the fuck? You're leaving me here with these idiots? Two – okay, but a whole bunch of them…" the guy dropped his phone as he noticed you standing behind him, anger written all over your face.

He couldn't say a single word and you were already in front of him, your chest almost touching his as you attempted to lift him from the floor by the sleeves of his tank top.

"H-hey, chill, girl," he tried, seeing how you were able to lift him more than he expected from _just_ a woman. He held his hands up to try and calm you down. "It was just a joke, okay? I didn't want to kill them, I swear."

"You're not a very good guy for the Yakuza if you're trying to get out of it now," you hissed as you took a step towards the edge, dragging the man's feet across the roof. The fact that he was referring to this ordeal as a 'joke' only managed to enrage you even more. The jokes you knew usually didn't involve hurting others badly on purpose.

Another step towards the edge.

"Come on, don't you guys know how to forgive someone once in a while? Your comrades aren't dead, are they?" the bastard tried to reprimand you, but unfortunately for him he was only adding salt to the wound as you took yet another step towards the edge.

By now he was almost dangling over thin air, your arms trembling from the strength needed to not drop him then and there. The blood dripping from your arm suddenly reminded you of your limits, surprising you that you had even managed to come this far. Your will to not drop him was fading quickly, too.

Seeing that his words weren't having the wanted effect on you, he started to struggle against your hold, even throwing in swearwords like "stupid cow" and "useless bitch".

Footsteps came from behind you and without looking you knew Mikoto and Misaki had joined the scene. Letting the authority take care of the situation, Misaki backed down and let Mikoto go first despite wanting to kill the man himself rather badly. Somewhere along the line the others would join him too, but you wouldn't notice.

Mikoto came to stand next to you, noticing the shaking of your limbs, the bleeding of your left arm and he seemed to calm down all of a sudden.

Another improvement between the two of you were the conversations you could hold by just looking each other in the eyes

He realised that this was going to be your first kill with a relatively cool head. Yes, you had killed before, but not like this, not with you being yourself. He was actually giving you a choice… Do it yourself or give it to him. But whatever you did, the result was going to be the same. Mikoto probably had enough on his name already. You, on the other hand, had a practically clean sheet, but you were part of HOMRA. You had to get your hands dirty once in a while.

So you let the shirt go and helplessly stared at the despair in the man's eyes as he felt the air fly past him, the ground coming closer. The other HOMRA-members came to watch their enemy's demise, glad that he got what he deserved.

"The others won't forgive my death! Mark my words!" he screamed before disappearing from sight.

Mikoto took your hands, clenched as if still holding a body up, and led your numb self down the stairs. You hadn't thought about it yet, but you knew that the look in this person's eyes were going to be the last thing you'd see every night before going to sleep for the next couple of years.

* * *

**Response to "Guest"'s review:** I am really sorry if you're not enjoying my story like I'd hope my readers would, I actually thought that a relationship between Tatara and Ayame would be a bit refreshing, but I can understand if you find it annoying when you're actually here for Mikoto and Haru, so sorry for that! And I'm sorry if their relationship is taking too long, I actually wanted them to take their time with getting together and all but to have the story run smoothly (at least in my opinion) it took a little too long... I'm not happy with the way things are going myself either, but I feel that this is the course the story should take and I can't really do anything about it, but I really hope that the next few chapters will make up for it!


	16. I'm Not Alright

**I'm Not Alright  
**_I like to stare at the sun and think about what I've done, I lie awake in my great escape.  
I like crossing the line and slowly losing my mind, are you ok? 'Cause I feel fine._

It was getting late, but nobody was planning on going to bed anytime soon. HOMRA was going to celebrate their victory and even some of the customers who came to the bar that evening wanted to join in on the party.

Everyone except you, of course. You were sitting at the far end of the bar, staring into a glass of whiskey, trying to remember how many you had already had before this one. Ayame had stated her concern for you a few hours earlier, but your slightly intoxicated state had waved her off with a cheery smile.

"Izumo, another please!" you called out as you swallowed the rests in the glass you had been clutching seconds ago. Izumo came over with a new one and a sceptical look on his face.

"Are you alright? This is already your sixth." Ah, so you had already had six. Or was it six including this one, so five? Ah, who gives a shit?

"Eyup! I'm trying to break my record," you responded with a big grin and Izumo just shrugged before going off to help other customers.

After swallowing a gulp of the horrible stuff, you turned slightly so that you could watch the group of HOMRA-members cheering about. Many of them were pretty drunk and would be welcomed by a good hangover the next morning while others decided to watch them do their drunken monkey-dancing.

Of course your gaze had to fall on a certain tuff of red hair, the look on his face worrying you even through all the alcohol flooding your system. He looked relaxed, satisfied, but even from where you were sitting you could see that he was actually on-guard and cautious of what was going on outside of the bar.

He too hadn't forgotten what the guy from the Yakuza had said. _The others won't forgive my death. Mark my words._ It had both of you on edge, but right now you couldn't really care about it.

When the magical 'he feels your look on him and turns to look at you' spell didn't work, you turned back to your drink with a small sigh and drank it all in one go. With your eyes closed, you concentrated on the burning feeling in your throat instead of the stare that just wouldn't disappear, no matter what you tried.

And then you opened your eyes and there he was, standing in front of you with a grin on his face. It was almost as if he liked this suffering of yours, as if he were telling you "I told you so".

"Haru?"

You blinked and Izumo was standing in front of you, frowning at the frightened look in your eyes. Okay, so maybe you had had a drink too much… No biggie, right? It wasn't like you were suffering from some post traumatic stress syndrome because one single kill, you were just drunk.

"Sorry," you quickly apologised and smiled at the worried bartender. He was just about to open his mouth and ask on, but you interrupted him, "I just need some fresh air."

Before Izumo could say any more, you had gotten up and decided to go out through the back door in the kitchen instead of attracting all the attention by using the front door. You didn't want anybody following you, you needed to be by yourself for the moment.

After pulling another bottle of alcohol from the fridge without bothering to look at what it was, you left the building. You stopped for a second to enjoy the sudden coolness of the air surrounding you before you left the street and just started to walk.

Your mind was blank as you let your legs do the job, occasionally taking a swig from the bottle, still without recognising what it was. At one point you started to feel guilty for leaving the place without telling anyone, specifically Mikoto. But being in the mood you were, a nasty voice in your mind told you that he didn't care so why should it matter.

Certain lights came into view and you realised where you were. You had arrived at the street of where you used to live, with your parents. The lights had attracted your attention because they had been situated in the park where you had sat when you had left.

In the years that had passed, you hadn't thought much of your parents and the places you used to frequent when you were still small, so you had almost forgotten the existence of this little piece of green in the middle of the city. You found the large tree next to the bench and sat down on the ground in front of it, your back resting against the trunk as you continued to drink from the bottle.

What were you doing with your life, anyway?

You had traded the peace and comfort of a real home with your parents for a bar filled with violent boys and you had never thought about it like this, but sometimes you missed the quietness of a room by yourself without the sound of men shouting beneath it.

That didn't mean that you were ungrateful, it was exactly the opposite. You were still eagerly waiting for the day that Izumo would come to you and tell you to finally get off your ass and do something for what you were getting, like find a job to earn some money.

But then again, if such a day would ever arrive, then what were you supposed to do? You hadn't studied, you had merely finished high school. You were probably too old and expensive to do the work kids did when they still went to school.

What would your parents say if they saw you in this mess? To top it all off, you were in love with the leader of a clan that apparently had enemies in the Yakuza and didn't hesitate to kill them.

Even better, you had been the one to kill said enemy. Your resolve hadn't wavered in that moment, you had thought it right to do so. But was it worth it? The eyes that were going to haunt you, the nightmares that were going to keep you from sleeping, were they worth the sweet feeling of revenge?

And now you were sitting under a tree at night, drinking something from the bottle. How could things continue like this?

The alcohol was really starting to take its toll on your body as the world started to spin slowly around you, but you found it strangely comforting for some reason. You felt your eyelids grow heavy and start to droop, but the sound of a twig snapping somewhere behind you made you feel wide awake once more.

_The others won't forgive my death. Mark my words._

You jumped up and readied yourself for battle, circling around on the same spot in an attempt to defend yourself from all sides. For a second you thought you could hear someone breathing next to you, but before you could turn around an arm had snaked itself around your waist and slammed you against the tree you had been standing next to.

The lights scattered around the park helped you to recognise your attacker once you had managed to open your eyes again, pain searing through your body from colliding with the tree trunk. Red hair was blocking your vision and you felt your stomach drop right to your toes.

"M-Mikoto?" you groaned as you struggled to free yourself from his grip. He was now holding you captive by pinning your wrists against the tree, his knee in between your legs to stop you from giving him a coordinated kick to his private parts.

He lifted his head slowly and you shrunk back at what you saw: his amber eyes almost seemed darker than usual by the anger visible in them, but that was probably just because it was night.

"What are you doing?" he asked lowly, your body shivering at his tone. He noticed it, but blamed it on cool night air.

Still feeling a little drunk and therefore not quite reading the danger in his body language, you shrugged sloppily before replying, "I needed some fresh air."

Your carelessness seemed to push the King even further, his face coming so close that the tips of your noses almost touched. Getting a better look at his eyes, you suddenly noticed other emotions than anger. Worry. Fear. Relief?

"Two of us were hurt today and the bastard promised more would come," he started, still obviously frustrated with your attitude but he calmed down as he noticed you were sobering up slightly, your expression changing as you realised something. "And then you disappear."

A pang of guilt hit you and you didn't know what you were supposed to say. How stupid could you have been to just wander off without telling anybody, especially with the danger of being attacked again lurking around every corner? You weren't the fighter of the group, you could easily get taken out by a single person if they managed to catch you off-guard.

But still, why would Mikoto care so much about this that he'd come for you himself? He could've sent someone else from HOMRA to retrieve you. In all these years you'd known him, had feelings for him, he'd never actually confirmed them and you were starting to feel really angry and frustrated about it.

So you acted like a complete idiot and disregarded the situation you were in at the moment to snarl, "Yeah well why do you care? Why did you come her yourself instead of sending one of your lackeys?"

Mikoto didn't react, he probably didn't really care what you called the other members seeing as you were one of them yourself and he probably concluded it was just the alcohol talking. When he didn't reply, you added, "Because I'm _just_ a member of the clan?"

Now Mikoto couldn't understand why you would refer to being a member by 'just being a member' because he, like many other men out there, did not understand the brain of a woman. He did, however, somehow, understand the sadness in your eyes was about a whole other problem.

A problem that had been going on for far too long now.

He pressed his lips against yours, not slow and romantic but hard and passionate, almost lighting you on fire. He let go of your wrists and you slid your arms to his shoulders, wrapped them around his neck to pull him closer, to deepen the kiss and he complied.

Just as he was about to lift your shirt up a little, you pushed him away as you suddenly noticed the pattern that kept on repeating itself whenever something like this happened. You wanted it to stop. You wanted your relationship to change. To make it or to break it, but to at least know for sure what was going on between the two of you.

"Because I like you," he suddenly whispered before you could open your mouth, which instead dropped open in surprise. He hunched down and pressed his face against the nape of your neck, as if ashamed of himself and trying to hide from you.

You just stood there, frozen to the spot as your pathetic excuse for a brain tried to process what he had said. Had he just confessed his feelings for you? And you shouldn't really be complaining about this, but why now of all times, when you were more drunk than sober and had been planning on being mad at him?

"I... I like you too. I have for years now, ever since..." you started but stopped to think back to when it had all actually started. Hadn't that been in this exact place, when you had chosen Mikoto instead of your parents? "Ever since our second chance."

You weren't sure whether he understood what you meant with 'second chance', but at least it was out there now. And he surprised you with his acknowledgement, "I know."

"Then why did we wait this long?" you murmured as you lifted his face by pushing his chin up with your index finger so that you could have a look at his beautiful eyes.

He shrugged and tried to pull away, but you captured him by giving him another kiss. This one was different from all the other kisses you had given him before, this one wasn't full of what seemed to be sexual frustration and fire. You tried to put all your love that you had built over the years into it, tried to convince him to stop running away from you.

Standing like that, your lips capturing those of Mikoto, he stared at you for a few more seconds and you understood it before he freed himself from your kiss to actually explain himself. "I wasn't interested in a relationship and thought that it would only endanger you."

"What changed that then?" you inquired in confusion, cocking your head to the side without thinking about the action. It distracted Mikoto for a second, who could only think of how cute it looked but he quickly pushed those thoughts away to concentrate on the situation at hand.

"I realised you would always be in danger with us, with me."

You smiled at him, feeling a little woozy because of his words. Or maybe it was just the alcohol doing its job. What about a combination of both? Whatever the case may be, you felt happy, happier than ever in these past few years now that you knew for sure. You even forgot what had spurred this confession on for the moment, but you figured that you wouldn't have to deal with the oncoming nightmares by yourself now.

"Let's go back," you said, holding your hand out for the redhead to take. He did so without any hesitation and after picking up the almost-forgotten bottle you had brought with you - you didn't want any children finding it the next day - you made your way back to the bar.

On your way back, neither one of you said a word, just like always. But you had been hanging around this man for so long that you didn't even know what else you could've expected once you both knew each other's feelings. You realised you would never have lovey-dovey picnics in the park, or take romantic walks on the beach. For one, Anna would probably accompany you more often than not, Mikoto rarely left the bar by himself anyway. But that was who he was, whom you had fallen for.

Back at the bar, it seemed as though nobody had actually missed your presence. They were all goofing around just like when you had left and for that you were very grateful. Izumo was the only one who looked up in slight surprise at the sight of Mikoto guiding you back to the other members, your hand in his. The emotion was quickly replaced with genuine happiness because the two of you had finally set everything aside and just went with the flow.

The rest of HOMRA wasn't even sober enough to register any changes in their King's attitude towards their so-called mother hen and they just welcomed the couple back into their ring. You merely smiled as someone pressed a bottle of beer in your hand, the other still holding the 'stolen' one. Speaking of which, you _still_ didn't know what it was.

You were about to sit down next to the redhead when he grabbed you and pulled you so that you ended up in his lap, hugging you close to his chest. You twisted your neck to question his motives, but the small smirk on his face and the twinkle in his eyes left you speechless. It was rather surprising to see how different his behaviour towards you had become by a simple confession but you weren't complaining.

The rest of the evening went by uneventfully, the boys keeping you entertained while your King kept you warm. And like that, you fell asleep in the arms of the man you loved. Not for the first time, but for the first time while feeling this peaceful about the connection between the two of you.

The last thing you perceived of reality before drifting off to the first nightmare of many to come, was the tightening of Mikoto's grasp around your waist when he felt your body relax as you fell asleep.


	17. All I Ever Wanted

**[A/N]:** gaaaah, I feel so guilty (once again) for not updating in a long time, but this chapter was really fighting me. I wanted it to be perfect and there were so many requirements... I wanted it to be the 'old group' again, and I wanted there to be some kind of conversation with Mikoto. I wanted to show his relationship with Haru and try to make him seem as IC as possible while still being 'in love'. I hope it turned out okay. Also, I have a question for my readers: do you guys think a lemon would be appropriate in one of the next few chapters? Do you actually want several detailed ones in this story?

* * *

**All I Ever Wanted  
**_Because all I ever wanted was a place to call my home, to shelter me when I am there and to miss me when I'm gone.  
All I ever wanted was a place to call my own, where stars will dance and sun still shines and the storms feel free to roam._

_The others won't forgive my death. Mark my words._

With a jolt, you shot up and didn't even bother scanning your body for wounds from being thrown off a rooftop. This had been going on for days on end, you dreaming of being killed and waking up with an aching body but no wounds to prove the origins of the pain.

A grumble from next to you pulled you out of your reverie and before you knew what was happening, a rough hand had pulled you back down. You ended up lying on Mikoto's chest, his arm encased around your shoulders as if protecting you from all outside influences. You quietly sniffed a few times, forcing the tears that had accumulated in your eyes because of your dream back down. It didn't matter how many times it came back, it would always have the same impact on you.

But still, you would shoulder the weight of your sins if that meant that you could lie in bed with your King, his soft snoring lulling you back to sleep once more every night.

You were about to fall asleep again when the door slowly creaked open, a small silhouette becoming visible. Sitting up to see who it was, though you already knew, you saw Anna creep closer until she was standing in front of you, her hand held out towards you. Her tiny fingers touched your sticky forehead and without a single word she crawled onto the bed, past you and she went to lie between the sleeping redhead and you.

While wondering if she couldn't go to sleep herself or if it had anything to do with your own nightmares - you didn't know the limits of her powers - you smiled softly before going to lie down next to her. You couldn't help but feel rather 'homely', lying in bed with your boyfriend and this little girl, though the two of you were too young for her to actually be your daughter.

You blushed at those thoughts and quickly shooed them away as you fell into a dreamless slumber while caressing Anna's hair.

The next morning finally arrived and you were woken by the small girl trying to escape from your hold on her to get up. You quickly let her free and she almost skipped out of the room. With a click on your phone, you saw it was already past nine in the morning. You looked back and saw Mikoto was still fast asleep and could be for a few more hours, so you quietly got up and dressed yourself to go downstairs.

Izumo was already up and busy cleaning his bar as always. Tatara was sitting at the bar, eating a sandwich as breakfast. Somehow you got the feeling of reminiscence, just your old group without the other members, excluding Mikoto, together. Sometimes you missed those days of hanging around all day, no auras or strains or clans, just the four of you doing nothing together.

Izumo seemed to feel the same and with a smile he set down the glass he had been cleaning before saying, "This has been quite a while, hasn't it?"

"I do miss it sometimes," Tatara admitted in between bites as he too started to think back to your 'younger years', feeling quite old of a sudden.

You went to sit next to him and linked your arm with his, feeling sad all of a sudden. "Would you trade what you had gained to go back in time?"

Everyone was silent for a few moments, thinking about your words. Tatara had begun to lay the foundations for a future family: he had married Ayame and was even starting to think of having children. He had gained many friends, had found his spot in this group despite all his weaknesses, he had stopped wandering aimlessly but instead towards a goal now.

You too had found some peace, were no longer struggling with everything around you. You had found love, not just with Mikoto but also with the others whom you could even call brothers. What more, you actually felt happy with everything right now. All the scars that adorned your body, you wouldn't give them back to return to that pure and innocent state in which you used to be.

And Izumo, he truly enjoyed the noise that filled the bar almost every evening. The feeling of comradery hung in the air no matter what happened and there wasn't a thing on earth that could smell better.

But still, once in a while everyone wished to go back to the simple days.

A grumble came from the stairs and Mikoto sauntered down the steps still wearing his pyjama bottoms and a white shirt to cover his torso. Unexpectedly, he too was thinking about the words that had been shared between friends. Being a King was a pain in his ass and he didn't know why he had been chosen to become one, but still he cared for every single one of his vassals like family, though he would never actually admit that of course.

He pressed his lips to your head before plopping down next to you and reaching out for a glass of water that Izumo had already set down for him. Without a single word, he pulled a cigarette out, lit it and placed it between his lips.

The four of you sat there in silence, nobody even knowing what to say. You weren't sure whether it was a comfortable silence shared between good friends, or a silence that existed because no one knew what to say. Because the last option made your heart churn painfully, you decided to go for the first one and just tried to enjoy the peace.

That peace didn't last long though when your stupid mouth had to go and ruin it all.

"Can we go out today? You know, just the four of us?" you asked all of a sudden, regretting it almost immediately afterwards.

Izumo looked at the calendar hanging on the wall and saw that it was a Monday. Smiling, he replied, "It's in the middle of a week so there won't be a lot, if any, people coming in until tonight so I guess we could close the shop for a bit."

You let out a relieved sigh and turned back, catching sight of something from the corner of your eye. Not quite believing it, you turned back to Mikoto and found the redhead grinning at you, as if your plea to return to the past for a short while had actually made him more like his old self.

"Sure," Tatara piped up, leaning on your shoulder and smiling directly into your face. "As long as we can stop by the music store, though!"

You smiled back at him, ruffling his hair in an attempt to get him off you. "You're still not bored of your guitar?"

He shook his head before cramming the last pieces of his sandwich into his mouth. Then he said something but nobody could understand it as you got assaulted by a spray of bread crumbs. "Thanks."

* * *

"So then she says she wants to move out of the bar and get a place of our own," Tatara said as he patted the piece of paper that contained several potential houses he and Ayame could rent, which was lying on top of a plastic bag that carried a few new cooking books he had bought earlier that day.

You pulled a thoughtful face as you dug your spoon in your bowl of ice cream, wondering why Ayame hadn't come to you about this yet. Normally you were the first to hear of any 'big' decisions she was making, but this was your first time hearing anything about her plan to move out.

Izumo, on the other hand, was just nodding understandingly while Mikoto kept his trademark seemingly-disinterested face on, even though one of his hands was resting on your leg. It was quite confusing to see him like his usual self, but with the slight changes in his gestures towards you.

Like how his eyes kept flickering from the person who was talking to you every now and then. Like how the corner of his lips twitched upwards ever so slightly whenever you quickly wiped a drop of escaped chocolate sauce away, hoping nobody had noticed. Like how he squeezed your leg every time you licked at the ice on your spoon.

"It is to be expected," Izumo admitted, effectively pulling you out of your musings and forcing your attention back to the matter at hand. "If you guys are really thinking about having kids, then it'd be logical to want a place by yourself."

"I don't think having a baby at the bar all day would be healthy," you added. You grinned at the thought of those boys, who were still innocent when it came to families, surrounding a small child and not knowing what to do with it.

"It would get instant lung cancer with everyone smoking," Tatara realised with a frown, suddenly seeing how moving out would be the only way to make sure the kid would stay healthy.

As if on cue, Mikoto took a drag from his cigarette and smirked at Tatara's disapproving glance. The redhead knew you hadn't actually meant that it wouldn't be healthy for the baby, but rather for the younger HOMRA-members. And maybe he himself, too. He didn't feel like testing whether babies cried more than that they slept for he liked his own sleep very much.

"And think of Misaki and the others. Think of them dealing with a child," you reminded Tatara, who sniggered at the images that flooded his mind.

"They'd be horrible baby sitters. Imagine them having to feed it, testing whether the milk isn't too hot. Do they even know how to do that? They might taste it for themselves first," Izumo remarked with a chuckle.

The others fell silent as they finished their ice creams while you scooped up the rest of the melted vanilla ice mixed with cream and sauce with your fingers, licking them clean afterwards. Of course you had to steal a glance at Mikoto who was staring at you with a heated look, one that made you blush.

You pushed any naughty thoughts out of your head as you reminded yourself that he was acting rather weird when it came to getting 'dirty'. He was always holding himself back, stopping himself just before it was too late but he would never answer your voiced concerns so you shrugged it off as some 'man thing'.

Izumo suddenly checked his phone for the time, noticing it was already nearing his planned time to re-open the bar. He got up and said, "I should head back."

Tatara nodded in agreement and left his seat as well, joining Izumo in the search for money. Before either one of them could say or do anything, you placed a wad of papers on the table with a sweet smile on your face. "This one's on me."

They both opened their mouths to protest, but you raised a finger to silence them and with the smile still in place, you grabbed Mikoto by his wrist and walked off, relishing in the feeling of a pair of confused eyes looking at your retreating back.

"What are you doing?" the King asked you, pulling his wrist free but instead slipping his hand into your grasp.

You raised an eyebrow at him, a little surprised that he actually cared enough to ask about it instead of letting it happen like he normally did. When he rose one in return, you grinned and shook your head.

"With Tatara talking about Ayame all the time, maybe I got a little jealous and wanted to spend some couple-time with my boyfriend?" you offered him, squeezing his hand shyly.

The other eyebrow rose as well and Mikoto looked around, almost seeming confused. "So then where's this boyfriend of yours?"

You stared at him for what seemed like a minute, not sure whether to be surprised or feel hurt. Then you almost caught sight of a twinkle in his eyes that was so out of character for him that you had to stop yourself from gaping at him.

Did Mikoto, the Red King, just make a joke?

For a moment you almost saw the younger version of the man you loved standing in front of you. His hair as untamed as ever but shorter and his face still pure and innocent, his mind spared from the nightmares that now haunted him on a regular basis. But then the moment was over and you were once more in the company of the hardened version of that boy, the soft core still hidden somewhere but now temporarily shining through the windows to his soul.

You laughed, louder than intended, and the smile on Mikoto's face only added to the sudden change of mood.

"What did you want to do?" he asked you when your laughter was but an echo in the air and you realised that you had absolutely no clue to what the two of you could do. In all honesty, you didn't really feel like doing anything, afraid that you might break the magic you were being blessed with at the moment.

So you just shrugged. You didn't know what you wanted to do, but you knew that you didn't want to let this chance of spending the rest of the day alone with the redhead pass just like that.

"Let's go and find a bench," you suggested after a few seconds of silence and Mikoto agreed by shrugging his shoulders and leading you to a nearby park where you could sit together in silence.

Instead of actually finding a bench, the two of you just ended up lying on the grass in the shade of a large tree. You sat against the trunk while Mikoto lay across you, his head resting on your lap and your hands entangled in his hair, playing with the wild strands.

Neither one of you said anything and you just sat there like that for maybe an hour, you really didn't know and you couldn't really care less.

"Why can't it always be like this?" you pondered out loud without really expecting an answer.

"You might get spoilt." Mikoto answered your rhetorical question with another joke that made your eyes almost fall out of their sockets, but at the same time you just tried to enjoy the sound of his voice while he tried to hold back a chuckle.

You didn't know what was going on with him that day, but you were too afraid that the magic spell would get broken if you dared to question it so you just kept your mouth shut and savoured the atmosphere while it lasted.

The King didn't like your lack of response at all and decided to take action against this 'crime'. He reached up with one of his hands and cupped your cheek, catching you off guard so that you couldn't stop him from sitting up a little, after which he softly kissed you.

An innocent gesture with nothing else hidden behind it other than his affection for you, but it still managed to make your body go rigid from the contact. You wanted more, you wanted _him_, so when he started to pull back you immediately went in for the counterattack and captured his lips with yours, letting your tongue slip into his mouth before he could react.

When he did react, it was slow and hesitant and he would have tried to pull away again if you hadn't followed him down, lowering yourself until you had to pull your legs from under his head to continue your pursuit. This time, you were determined to get an explanation for his behaviour when it came to avoiding these kinds of situations.

In the end, Mikoto gave in and you felt his body relax under your searching fingers as you traced them along his muscles, your lips working his all the while. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you down on top of him, making your arms give in but you didn't stop nipping at his lips. Later you would realise that if you hadn't been stopped back then, you would have gone through with the deed then and there, in the middle of a park.

"King? Haru?" A voice came from out of no where. You shot up in surprise, your face becoming red as you turned around and found Tatara standing above the two of you, leaning with a hand against the tree trunk. The grin on his face told you that he was probably up to no good.

"T-Tatara? What are you doing here?" you asked him, feeling terribly flustered and embarrassed. Sitting next to you, Mikoto seemed to be doing perfectly fine, not a hint of uncomfortable emotions to be seen.

"Anna was asking for Mikoto so I told her I'd find you two. Didn't quite discover what I was expecting, though. Doing that kind of stuff so out in the open? You guys are daredevils!" Tatara exclaimed, acting disappointed by your behaviour.

Recovering quickly, you managed to defend yourself. "Well, if I remember correctly you and Ayame were found in a similar situation when the two of you were supposed to be watching over the bar but instead you were practically having sex behind the counter."

"Practically, but not quite," he retorted smoothly.

"At least we still have our clothes on."

"We were still wearing clothes too."

"Some."

With an exasperated sigh, Mikoto got up and started back towards the bar, ignoring your bickering with your friend like you used to in the 'old days'. You had yet to remember that you still hadn't accomplished your original mission of getting an explanation for Mikoto's strange behaviour.

* * *

To answer the guest-reviewer's reviews:

Time skips... Yes, I'm not very happy about them either, but I wanted a story that started with Mikoto in high school and would also meet with the anime and I really can't think of so many stories to fill up about 7 years. I'm really sorry for that! Though I like to view the time skips like they happen in TV-series (I'm thinking of Castle right now) where you only get to see parts of the story where interesting stuff actually happens?

The change in his personality was actually a bit to show a change in his relationship with Haru. After the first few chapters, she kind of becomes detached from the others because of her problems and maybe after that he had trouble re-adjusting his attitude to its previous state? And of course, his personality must have changed a lot during the three year time skip in which he grew accustomed to being a King and all that shizzle. I'm hoping to bring that caring part back a bit, now that they're together.

Mikoto's romantic side: I'm hoping I managed to show some of it in this chapter... Of course I'll continue on working on it, but I'm very unsure about where I'm going with it at the moment. I changed the rating from "M" to "T" because I figured I should only actually start using "M" when there is actually mature stuff being written? And about the amount of chapters, I'm actually planning on 30-something chapters... I hope that is what you yourself were hoping for?


	18. Diamond Eyes

**Diamond Eyes  
**_I'm on the front line, don't worry I'll be fine, the story is just beginning.  
I say goodbye to my weakness, so long to the regret and now I see the world through diamond eyes._

"Shouta-san! Run!" Misaki screamed at you, but he was wasting his breath for you were already running as fast as you possibly could.

You willed your legs to move even faster and were surprised to feel them meet your requirements, your speed picking up a little after all. Sweat was almost streaming down your face like a river and you dared a look at the danger from which you were trying to escape.

At the back of your mind, the hopeful stares of your team members were directed at you and you knew that you wouldn't ever forgive yourself if you let them down when they were depending on you like this. You were the fastest of them all, you wanted to get away, you _had _to get away. No, you _would_ get away.

If you didn't make it, everything would be over and everyone would lose. Their fate was resting on your shoulders, yours alone and you would be the one responsible for whatever would happen to them should you fail.

"HOMERUUUUN!" All of a sudden, a roar went through the watching crowd after you flopped down onto the ground, lying there almost lifelessly except for your heavy panting.

Izumo's and Misaki's faces appeared above yours, swimming about as you tried to focus on one point. They were grinning as they helped you back to your feet. Rikio immediately handed you a bottle of water and you drank half of its contents in one go before you turned to look out over the field.

Your enemies were staring at you in disbelief, some of them scratching their heads as they tried to fathom what exactly had just happened. Satisfaction filled your very being and on an impulse, you stuck your tongue out at them.

"Ha, thought you could beat us?" The faces of the other team's members were enough of a reply. "We're still in the game!"

You returned back to your own team with a smug grin on your face as you gave them high fives. Just because they had Mikoto on their team didn't mean that your team would lose by default. Maybe not all of you could hit a ball three football fields further, but instead there were other things you could do. Like run.

After finishing the rest of your water, you sat down at the end of the bench to watch the next person take a shot at batting. Your team was already at two outs and you were losing so if the next person didn't make it, that would mean certain defeat.

The only reason you hadn't been the one to fail was thanks to that one in a million time to actually hit the ball, your speed and that beautiful lady who had been walking through the park in that exact moment, distracting most of the boys in the game.

Rikio was up next. The year slowly crawling towards winter, his body was growing slower with every passing day so his only hopes on surviving his round were to either hit the ball pretty good, or that the other team would fumble to catch it. Both possibilities were almost impossible to happen.

The poor boy stood there, the bat held in his hands the way it should be as he swallowed nervously. He knew that his team was depending on him and he didn't want to let them down either. He shuffled his feet and nodded at Yo, the opponent's pitcher.

Yo tried to throw the ball in a manner that it still counted as a strike but that it wouldn't get hit. His attempt failed however when fate seemed to side with your team for the second time that day. The sound that resembled an explosion sounded and a white blur flew into the air.

"Idiot, run!" Misaki screamed once more, having named himself the team's mascot, when he noticed that Rikio, like many others, was admiring his own handiwork before realising he was supposed to take this chance to run on.

Poor Rikio was sweating bullets and panting heavily as he tried his best to get as far as possible, but the ball returned its course back to Earth far too soon.

Then all of a sudden the helping hand of fate actually struck for a second time and Kousuke, who never failed to catch a ball, actually let it slip out of his hands. The sound of it thudding against the ground caused a wave of excitement from your team.

"Kamamoto, you can do it!"

"Kamamoto-san!"

At the same time, Kousuke's team members were yelling at him, obviously aggravated. "Fujishima, how could you let that happen?!"

Kousuke shrugged wordlessly after he had thrown the ball to Masaomi, who was covering the third base. Unfortunately the ball had been thrown a little too high and even though Masaomi jumped, he still couldn't reach it.

"Shit!" he yelled and sprinted after it, intent on throwing it to their catcher. Unluckily for them, that was Tatara, and just like he was useless when it came to fighting, so was he useless when it came to catching. Why they even put him there was beyond you. Probably to get him out of the field.

Masaomi's shoulder hit the ground just after he threw the ball at Tatara, who was concentrating on catching the ball just before Rikio could reach the final base. It almost looked like he caught it, and everyone fell silent as they waited for the result, but the ball missed his glove and flew straight past him.

"HOMERUUUUN!" your team yelled once again. You all stood up and jumped around Rikio, who was too exhausted to join you in your festivities.

While you were celebrating your victory, the others were glaring at you. From the very beginning, they had been winning but if this went on then slowly but surely they would turn out to be the losers. Tatara was the only one who didn't seem to be feeling sour. "We've been winning the last couple of matches, they can have this one, right?"

You looked over at Mikoto to make sure he was doing okay and you were met by a blank face, but even from your position you could see the storm in his eyes. He didn't like losing. At all. Ever. You couldn't help but smile and he rose an eyebrow at you, noticing your stare at him. Not being able to hold yourself back, you shaped an 'L' with your fingers and placed it against your forehead as you stuck your tongue out at him.

He tried to hide it, but you noticed his hand that wasn't covered by a glove clenching to hold his irritation back. For that you were actually pretty thankful, God knew how the game was going to end if he started running on agitation.

Next one up was Izumo. Everybody sighed at that, because Izumo was a pretty good baseball player. He chose his bat went to stand on his spot with confidence, his lean figure flexing as he was getting ready to swing the bat as fast as humanly possible.

Yo threw the ball, this time too annoyed to even try and make it a difficult one. Izumo swung the bat, but to everybody's surprise, he missed it. For a few seconds, silence dominated the field. In all the time HOMRA had played baseball together, Izumo had never missed. And Tatara had managed to catch the ball. "Strike!"

Apparently fate hadn't been helping you, it had suddenly just turned out to be opposite day.

"Hm." Izumo wasn't too happy with what was going on, shifting the bat between his hands before gripping it properly again, ready to try again.

"Strike!" Tatara's voice sounded throughout the park once more.

"Strike! Batter out!"

With a defeated sigh, Izumo's shoulders slumped as he accepted the glove Mikoto threw at him, the smirk on the redhead's face barely visible. As you passed him, intent on taking over Yo's glove, he gave you a look that told you that if it were in him, he would have stuck his tongue out at you in that moment. Luckily, that wasn't the case so you were spared from the humiliation that would have brought.

Misaki went to stand ready to pitch, while Rikio took his position as catcher. Saburatou walked over to the first base, Izumo went to cover the third and you made your way to the back, to the second base.

It was just your luck that Mikoto was the first one to take a chance at batting. You instinctively took a few steps back, readying yourself to sprint off as fast as possible to catch the ball. You were sure he would be able to get to at least the second base, so you were going to have to throw the ball at Izumo.

Misaki juggled the cursed object from his right hand to his glove and back to his right hand as he readied himself for his infamously difficult throws. Though they were only infamous and difficult when he was on the other team, obviously.

Mikoto tightened his grip on the bat just before the ball left Misaki's hand and he swung it with all his might, not even waiting to confirm whether he actually managed to hit it. Sprinting to the first base, he stole a glance and was satisfied to see you practically flying to the other side of the park. His feet had barely touched the base when you turned around, ready to catch the ball. Halfway to second base, the yelling from both teams went up a notch, indicating you hadn't made a perfect catch.

You ran back a few paces before flexing your arm, mustering up as much power as you possibly could before launching the ball towards Izumo. Mikoto had just reached the second base and slowed down when he caught sight of a flying object heading towards him at full speed.

Izumo did a jump and caught it in his glove, immediately returning to his base to try his best in blocking the path for Mikoto, who was now almost halfway to the third base. Seeing this, the redhead turned around and quickly returned to the second base to wait for your return while Izumo threw the ball back at Misaki, who quickly held it in the air.

Allowing yourself a short break, it took you a little longer to get back to the game and you did so stumbling, your legs feeling a little wobbly from being used so much in such a short time span. Luckily Tatara was the next player, so you dared to shoot a satisfying grin at Mikoto, who didn't seem all that happy with having only reached second base thanks to you.

When you were finally standing next to him at your base, he noticed the slight tremble of your legs and his annoyed frown was replaced by a more worried one. His eyes met yours and you merely smiled at him in your short exchange of silent words.

_Are you alright?_

"You should worry on not losing," you whispered with a smirk, readying yourself for the next round of the game and not waiting to see Mikoto's reaction because Misaki had just thrown an easy ball for Tatara.

The clumsy man swung his bat as best as he could but he failed, swinging completely past it despite his wife yelling encouragements from the sidelines. She had just been watching the whole match together with Anna, ready to help anyone who happened to get wounded during the game. Most of the time that ended up being Tatara, anyway.

"Sorry!" Tatara called out to his team mates with a laugh, not actually caring whether or not he was failing. Unlike many others, he was just there for the fun and sometimes that was a refreshing change.

Especially if you were the designated runner.

The second throw was a little better, the bat actually hitting the ball this time. Unfortunately, it decided to jump backwards, directly into Rikio's glove.

"Tatara..." A groan ran through almost all the players.

The third ball was even better. Tatara managed to hit the ball _forward_ this time, but the results weren't much better when it perfectly landed in Misaki's gloves. And the boy didn't even have to try and catch it.

Another collective groan.

You had been one of the few who weren't annoyed with Tatara, instead having enjoyed the view in front of you. Watching Mikoto's body flex and relax according to the attempts at hitting the ball was a rather entertaining thing to do and you couldn't help but want to run your finger over his spine.

So you did, unconsciously though. Your hand suddenly reached out and stroked his back, the shiver that ran throughout his body noticeable only to your eyes. Though you weren't sure it was because you had surprised him, or whether he actually liked the sensation, you were glad that you had managed to get any kind of physical reaction out of him.

From the corner of your eye, you saw how Yo stepped forward to receive the bat from Tatara, but not yet realising that that was your cue to get ready for the next match. You were just too busy thinking about what could happen between the two of you if only Mikoto would let you in. Before, there hadn't been any problems with becoming intimate with you, so why all of a sudden, now that you were together, was he holding back?

The feeling of the muscles of Mikoto's back flexing under your fingertips pulled you back to the present and you were just in time to see Misaki's arm wave as he released the ball from his hand.

It was a perfect hit and you groaned as your legs took off once more, eager for movement once more. How they had survived this long was something you did not really understand. Your legs had underestimated the run, though, and halfway you found your energy slowly draining and before you knew it, the ball had already it the ground.

You quickly picked it up though and with a quick glance at the field - Yo was nearing second base and Mikoto would soon finish his round - you decided to throw it at Izumo again. He fumbled slightly with the ball but he managed to secure his grip on it before it fell. Your heart skipped a beat as you automatically blamed yourself and your shaky legs for the horrible throw. That moment didn't last long though, when Izumo tagged Yo with the ball a second before he could slam his foot down on the base.

Players either cheered or yelled in annoyance.

The ball was returned to Misaki as everyone waited for Yo to leave the field and Masaomi to receive the bat and get ready for some hitting. He was an average player, better at catching than hitting but he could still have his lucky streaks. Fortunately today wasn't any of the kind and he only managed a meagre ball that Saburatou managed to catch after it jumped off the ground, but by then Masaomi had managed to reach the first base.

"Shit," Misaki cursed, getting annoyed with this. They only had to catch them with one more mistake and the game would end. Though nobody could remember the current score, which Ayame was keeping as well, everybody was anticipating the results.

Up now was Kousuke and Misaki tried to make the throw as horrible as possible, but still the sound of the bat hitting the ball resounded throughout the park and with a tired groan you shot away from your base once again.

"Next time someone else is running!" you managed to scream in between pants as you sprinted towards where you thought the ball was going to fall.

You blanched as you realised you had made a mistake, the yelling of the other players from behind you having distracted you for a second, but you tried to give a boost to your speed to make it in time. If you could catch this ball, it was all over, no matter what happened on the field. It was all happening right here and right now. You just had to catch that god damn ball...

A cramp suddenly attacked your left calve, almost causing you to stumble but you ignored it and ploughed on, even if it was just for the sake of not disappointing the people yelling your name.

Too busy thinking about the prickling pain in your leg, you almost missed your chance to catch the ball. Keyword being _almost_.

Skidding to a halt, you rotated as soon as you could and perfectly caught it in your glove. A roar came from the field, disappointment and happiness mixed into one.

With a huge grin on your face, you allowed yourself to jog back to the field but in your short-lived moment of triumph you had completely forgotten your leg and in return it gave way, making you fall face first into the dirt.

"Haru!" Izumo's voice called out, quickly coming closer, but a familiar warmth was by your side first and the large, rough hands of your lover helped you sit up even though you tried to swat them away.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm fine! I just slipped, that's all," you responded to everyone who had gathered around to check what had happened. You handed the ball to Izumo, who in turn gave it to Misaki who held it in the air to signal the end of the match.

Mikoto's hands held your wrists captive and weren't planning on letting you go anytime soon as he noticed that the shaking of your legs had worsened. He asked himself how someone could push themselves to the point of pain just because of a game, but then he remember who he was thinking about. You gave your everything, whatever you were doing.

You met Ayame and Anna halfway back to the field.

"Tatara's team won," she announced with a smile, stepping back as she let Masaomi and Yo tackle her husband.

A defeated sigh went through the members of your team, but you tried your best to cheer them up. "Next time we'll beat them, right?"

A semi-enthusiastic yell was all you got from them as they made their way back to where the bar was with slumped shoulders, leaving you and Mikoto by yourselves. Izumo eventually managed to make them feel better by promising them some free drinks

After a few minutes of walking in silence, your King decided to do something about it. "You shouldn't do that."

You looked up at him in confusion, wondering what he could be referring to with 'that'. He looked you dead in the eye, though, and you suddenly realised what he was talking about. You merely laughed and tried to wave him off.

"Don't worry about me, this body can take a lot more than a regular baseball match."

A squeeze of the hand was all the reaction you got and you decided against bringing up any other subjects to talk about - including _that_ - in fear of ruining the peaceful mood between the two of you.

* * *

**[A/N]:** hello, I'm down here for once! :D Just to not ruin the suspension of the beginning... Anyways, sorry for any mistakes I made with terms or rules of baseball, at school we only got the play 'softball', which apparently is the female version of baseball. And that's been quite a while back, too. Also, about this filler-like chapter, I wanted to write at least one more light-hearted chapter before making any drastic changes in relationships and stuff (hinthint). And so next chapter will be a lemon. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED 8D


	19. I Own You

**[A/N]:** gaaah I AM SO SORRY! And I was really looking forward to this chapter too... Thing is, I immediately wrote everything up to the lemon in one go, but my father had a stroke all of a sudden so since then I have been very busy with visiting him at the hospital and helping around the house. And next to that, I didn't really _feel_ like writing a sex scene with that going on. Anyways, my father is doing surprisingly fine so I felt like writing again! On the chapter itself... I changed a few things in the story because I found this fit better with who I think Haru is: Mikoto is no longer Haru's first kiss, and her first time having sex will have happened with one of her unnamed boyfriends from the three year skip (which we will never get to hear anything about, hurray!) Also, if you guys feel up to it, this chapter reads best when listening to some KDrew and then later on Diamonds by Rihanna. Everyone, thank you for waiting so long! I hope you guys enjoy it!

* * *

**I Own You  
**_Hey, c'est la vie. Remember me? I made you, dressed and trained you.  
Hey, it's bittersweet. You can't kill me with kindness, I don't buy it.  
Strip down, show me flesh and bone, 'cause now I own you._

Music was coursing through your veins, blocking out any other thoughts you may or may not have had. For that, you were very glad. You just wanted to forget everything for the moment and not think about any problems that may or may not be tormenting your life.

Like a certain redheaded King, who was sitting at the side of the dance floor with Tatara and Ayame. You had seen Izumo lingering about with a young and beautiful blonde girl, but he was gone now.

Your body was doing most of the work for you, unconsciously swaying your hips from side to side as you enjoyed the feeling of the beat pulsing through your limbs. You took a swig from a glass you were holding, suddenly asking yourself how many you had already had. For a second, your movements were halted when you asked yourself how you had even gotten to where you were in the first place and why you were feeling like shit, but the alcohol was making that a difficult task.

It had been something with Mikoto...

Oh right, you had been sitting on the couch in his room. He had been lounging on top of you while you read a book. He had been drawing patterns on your arms, a feeling that you had enjoyed greatly.

_"Are you bored?" you asked him as you saw him eye you. He thought you hadn't noticed._

_He opened his mouth, his eyes twinkling with some kind of mischief. But suddenly something hit him - some kind of realisation, as if he just remembered something - and he quickly closed it again, leaving you disappointed and wanting more. And in that moment, you found that you couldn't even care enough to ask him about it. He would probably find some excuse for it anyway._

_As if sensing your irritation, he pushed himself up so that he could give you a small kiss to the lips. Though he tried to do so in an apologetic manner, it was the straw that broke the camel's back._

_Throwing your book onto the ground, you got up and left without another word, not feeling like putting up with the redhead's erratic behaviour any longer. At least not for today._

Not much later, a few of the boys had decided they felt like going out that night and so almost everyone ended up going to this particular club. Kousuke hadn't been feeling well enough to party, so he stayed behind to take care of Anna and the bar.

So here you were, dancing to the beat of some combination of dubstep and house that was probably better for headbanging and not regular dancing. You could feel your body becoming sticky with sweat as you went up a notch. Instead of just moving from side to side, you held your arms in the air and let go of whatever restraint you had left, waving them slightly as you synchronised your very being to the loud music.

A certain redhead kept an eye on you just in case something were to happen as he sat by the bar, a glass of scotch in his one hand as he rested the other along the side of the counter. Though he felt bad for what had happened, finding himself torn between various possible options all the time, that didn't stop him from enjoying the view as your visible skin taunted him. The way your shirt was slowly crawling upwards or how he could see drops of sweat slide into places not to be mentioned weren't helping at all.

Oh, but _that_ was a sight he did not enjoy, the corners of his lips turning down as he noticed what you hadn't just yet.

You only realised you had company when the song changed into something else and you let yourself have a few moments of rest before continuing your escapade.

A man you had never seen before was standing in front of you, his features hard to discern because of the lamps shining about in the room. All you could see were his shiny teeth as he grinned at you while he matched his movements with yours.

His mouth moved, but you couldn't hear what he said and you let him know by frowning and holding your hand behind your ear.

"HEY!" he yelled at you, obviously amused as you tried to find the right words for the situation. Despite all you had been through, you did not know how to answer a stranger approaching you in a club.

"Uh, HI!" you screamed back, still a little unsure about his presence.

He noticed and held out a new glass with something to drink, as if to help you with your unease. Though you didn't have enough alcohol in your system to immediately warm up to him, you were stupid enough to exchange your empty glass for the one he offered you. You were lucky that he didn't have any intentions of drugging you. How was that even possible with the infamous Red King watching over you? "THANK YOU!"

He said something but you couldn't hear it again. You didn't ask him to repeat himself and just assumed that he said something along the lines of 'you're welcome'. You immediately drank a little from the glass, recognising the taste of beer. The sensation was bitter and you found it horrible, but it was free so who cared?

The next song came on and you quickly drank the rest of the glass in one go before placing it on a nearby table so that you could start dancing with your new acquaintance. The song somehow sounded a bit calmer, and the man standing before you reacted to this by moving closer to you.

For a split second, a still-sober voice screamed at you, _"This might count as cheating!"_

_"Yeah, well," _the drunk part of your mind slurred back, _"It's not like the one you'd be cheating on actually cares."_

Before the sane leftovers of your brain could reply, the drunk voice started singing horribly, making whatever soberness you had left disappear without further ado. Peace washed over you and you relaxed at the closeness of a foreign body. His small, smooth hands landed on your hips, pulling you closer to his soft body, and despite the slight return of your discomfort and all the differences between this man and the one you actually wanted, your yearning for someone to touch you stopped you from pulling away. Apparently you were desperate enough to let _anybody_ touch you, even if you knew you were going to feel shit about it the next morning and not just because of the hangover.

All you could notice in the next few minutes were the stranger's dark eyes, how mesmerising they seemed to be as they investigated you during your dance together. Once he finished checking out your appearance, he concentrated on your eyes and for a moment you forgot how to breathe.

The stare he was giving you almost made you think that, as cliché as it may have sounded, he was looking right into the very core of your being. In a flash, he would see what made you tick, what you had been through, your hopes and dreams. His fingers squeezed the delicate flesh of your waist, making it feel tingly, and the corner of his lips quirked as if he knew what you were thinking.

The moment was over when the song ended and another started that sounded something a little more... like it was made for partners dancing together.

Oh fate, why did it have to toy with you like this?

Your uneasiness from before returned, but not without other mixed feelings that hit you with full force as this man you hadn't met before wrapped his arms around you. He pulled you even closer and you rested your chin on his shoulder so that he had to tilt his head backwards to rest his own chin on your hair.

In that moment, you knew you should have pushed him away. You _wanted_ to push him away, but at the same time, you didn't. You imagined a certain other man holding you like this and tears started to prickle in your eyes, but you tried to blink them away before they could fall. You felt horrible and egoistic for doing something like this, yet you also found it justified because of how _he_ seemed to be treating you lately.

The man pulled back, as if sensing something was wrong and when he saw the glistening in your eyes his eyebrows rose in surprise. He lifted your face with one of his fingers, that wasn't strong and calloused, and slowly lowered his head.

In the meanwhile, a sudden flare caught the attention of various HOMRA members scattered throughout the club as the Red King turned around just in time to see you, _his_ girl almost slow dancing with a stranger, who was bending over so that your lips were sharing a kiss.

The Red King had had enough, whether it be against the advice given to him or not.

That flare was what slightly lifted you out of your stupor that had made you accept the kiss in the first place, but the feeling of a flame encasing your hand was what actually made you snap out of it.

The flame on your arm ended up being a hand that spun you around. Your back was now turned to a very confused man who had just been hoping to get lucky that night while your chest was pressed against a familiar, hard torso that felt like it was on fire. And before you could react in any way, a different pair of lips crashed on top of yours.

Unlike the kiss you had received seconds earlier, this one seemed to calm your body down immediately, making it admit itself over to its dominator, giving him all he wanted. But before Mikoto accepted anything, he bit your lip, even drawing a little blood.

Without wasting another second, the Red King shot his 'enemy' a deadly glare that seemed to almost nail him to the ground. All the man could do was stare as the redhead dragged you off, several heads from more than just HOMRA members turning at what was going on. Ayame and Tatara shared a concerned look before watching the two of you disappear through the exit.

Once outside, Mikoto rounded the first corner there was and immediately trapped you between the brick wall and his body. He held your arms up by your wrists as he glared at you, his eyes looking like they were glowing red. That was what told you that he was really pissed off.

Starting to feel nervous under the furious stare of the redhead, you wriggled to try and free yourself from his hold, but instead he reacted by punching the wall next to your head. Bits and pieces of rubble from the bricks he had just broken fell, dirtying the side of your pants.

_"What did you expect, you just cheated on him."_ You felt surprised when your voice of reason piped up once more, signalling that the attempted punch had managed to sober you up a little.

_"But I didn't kiss the guy back."_

_"You didn't push him away either."_

Damn. You had just lost a discussion with yourself.

When Mikoto realised you were no longer going to struggle, he released his tight grip on your hands. Instead, he pressed them against the sides of your head, and not very gently either, and in that moment you were genuinely afraid that he was going to crush your skull in his rage.

Instead of feeling your face getting snapped in half, you felt his large hands heat up to the point that is was almost uncomfortable.

"M-Mikoto, what-"

Mikoto pressed his lips harshly to yours in order to shut you up. Just then the heat from his hands seemed to spread out throughout your head, to your neck, your shoulders, breasts and even lower, until you felt that your whole body was being engulfed by his flames.

"You're mine now," he growled at you and you gasped softly as you realised what was going on. You hadn't been branded with his sign - HOMRA's logo - yet, being one of the members who had joined before he used that method to 'welcome' newcomers.

That was what he was doing now, the result evident on your right shoulder once the fire died down and disappeared completely, leaving a red mark in its wake. He was branding you as his. But why? What had changed? Just because of what had happened in the club just now?

Some of Mikoto's anger from before disappeared together with his aura, his amber eyes now staring at you with hurt evident in them. Guilt washed over you as it finally dawned on you what you had actually just done. You had _cheated_ on him. How could you have not thought of that as a big deal?

"I-I'm sorry," you whispered and he could see that you meant it.

He kissed you again, softer and more passionate this time, and the difference between this one and all the others he had given you before hit you somehow. It was so open, so free. He wasn't holding back anymore. But still the question of 'why' was lingering around and you knew you wouldn't be able to fully enjoy the moment if you didn't ask him about it.

"Why?"

He looked at you, surprised you once more with the emotions that had replaced his anger and hurt. He was... ashamed? Embarrassed?

What on Earth could make _the_ Suoh Mikoto, Red King, leader of HOMRA, feel _embarrassed_

"It was Izumo's advice," he muttered, averting his gaze all of a sudden. As if the part of him being embarrassed wasn't weird enough.

You had to do your best to not laugh. "Why would you ask Izumo for advice? Especially when it came to kissing your girlfriend?"

Mikoto looked back at you and smirked at your assumptions. The sight made your knees almost feel like jelly and in that moment you were glad that you were prisoner between a wall and the redhead.

"It was about how I should not want to have sex with a woman without receiving a 'sign'."

You frowned at that - immediately understand that it was one of those 'pieces of advice' Izumo forced upon people without asking for their permission - wondering what this 'sign' was that Izumo had been talking about.

"So you mean, according to Izumo, I have to wave a flag around that says 'I WANT SEX'? Because in my world, trying to get into your pants is a sure sign of wanting to do it. And I tried that." You smiled despite your frustration at your nosey friend, finding the thought of Mikoto following Izumo's advice rather cute.

As if those words were enough, Mikoto lifted you with ease, his tongue immediately searching for entrance at your lips and receiving it immediately. Your response was delayed slightly when you felt his obvious arousal but when you recovered, you wrapped your legs around his waist. In all this time that you had been with him, you had not once witnessed any physical effect you had had on him, and being a normal human being, you couldn't help but wonder if you could even _do_ anything to him.

Thankful for your choice of the tight jeans you were wearing, you ground your hips against his while your tongue rubbed against his, your mouth willingly receiving the groan he let out. You repeated the action when you found yourself pleased with his reaction, forgetting what effect it might have on yourself as you felt _him_ rub against _her_.

Your hands wound themselves in the wild strands of his hair, the dance of your tongues quickening as the two of you felt the need for the other grow. Mikoto responded to your tugging his hair by tightening his grasp on your bum to hold you up and pull you closer to him.

A gasp left your mouth as he pressed against you and you decided that you couldn't hold yourself back any longer. If you didn't return to the bar soon, you were seriously going to consider just doing it out here in the open. Though that time at the park would have been a little worse, it still would have been pretty desperate to do it outside of a club, where neither of you had any kind of protection on you.

Without another word, you wiggled yourself free, getting a few more groans during the act, and immediately made your way back to Homra. You never thought that you would be so glad that the boys had decided on a club not too far away from the bar, just in case something were to happen to Anna or Kousuke.

Or just in case someone was in desperate need of getting laid.

You don't remember much of your trip back to the bar, except the almost painful throbbing in a certain part of your lower body.

You slowly opened the door because it was dark inside, finding Kousuke and Anna huddled together on a couch, fast asleep with a blanket wrapped around the two of them. Kousuke had always been one of the better babysitters in the clan.

Mikoto's lips stopped touching yours for a brief second as you lead him up the stairs as fast as you could without waking the kids. They found each other again as soon as you were upstairs though and two pair of hands flew up at the other's body, touching, scratching, groping whatever they could get a hold of.

Your feet were just about to walk by a door when you stopped, realising something. A smirk appeared on your face, breaking the kiss once more. Mikoto looked slightly confused for a split second before noticing your gaze sliding over this particular door.

"Let's get us some revenge, shall we?" you whispered and bit his lower lip, leaving the redhead no time to respond as he pressed your back against Izumo's door.

His lips started roaming a little lower, venturing over your cheek, your chin, your neck... His mouth found your collarbone and softly bit the sensitive skin there just as his hand found the door knob and turned it.

A low moan left your throat, which made you feel a little ashamed of yourself but you quickly forgot as the hand that had just opened the door grasped your hip and pushed you into Izumo's room.

No time was wasted with clothes; as soon as Mikoto had closed the door with his foot, his fingers were busy pulling your shirt over your head. You complied, wanting to rid yourself of the extra layers of skin. With your shirt discarded on the floor, the King immediately went to unbutton your jeans and slid them down to ground.

You stepped to the side, pushed them away from you and pulled your socks off before resuming your position in front of the redhead in just your bra and knickers. Feeling self-conscious all of a sudden, you crossed your arms in front of your chest while trying to ignore Mikoto's examining gaze. This was the first time he had seen you like this, after all.

He noticed your discomfort and carefully pulled your arms free, placing your hands on his shirt. First, you looked at him in confusion but then you understood what he was getting at. He thought that if he exposed himself too, then you would feel better. That might not have been the case, but the gesture was sweet enough to lighten your mood somewhat.

Lifting his arms, he helped you as much as possible with undressing him and as you got to see more of his toned flesh, your lust from before returned with passion. You planted sweet, innocent kisses here and there as your fingers made their ways to his obviously strained pants.

You grinned at him as you took your time with his belt, his face everything but happy with this. After a while, he decided that you needed a little help and he roughly grabbed your hands, guiding them as they pulled his trousers down to reveal his black boxer shorts.

Before you could say anything, he pulled you in an embrace, squashing your face against his surprisingly soft chest. You wouldn't actually say he had man boobs... But that was exactly what you were going to call them anyway.

He guided you towards the bed - _Izumo's bed_ - and pushed you to sit on the end of it. The gentleness of his movements made your body almost feel like it was burning, despite the fact that there was nothing sexual about them. A woman's brain was life's greatest mystery.

Once you were sitting comfortably on the bouncy mattress - why didn't you have one like that? - Mikoto surprised you once more by practically climbing over you while tipping you over onto your back. He crawled his way to the head of the bed with you bending and stretching your knees to retain your spot underneath him by wriggling along with him. This was a rather awkward process as you were trying to do so with kicking him in any special spots, no matter how... large the target might be.

In the end, the only way you found out that you had reached your destination was when Mikoto's mouth came crashing down on yours, his hands stroking your bare form. You immediately reacted by pushing your hips up and scratching at his back in an attempt to get him to lower himself on top of you.

He did so, his tongue battling yours all the while, and you could feel him throbbing against you, badly needing you. The feelings were mutual and so you decided to slip your hand between your bodies to reach downwards and stroke him. He softly bit your tongue as you did so, a low grumble coming from his chest.

You smirked into the kiss as you pressed, squeezed and massaged, your fingers working their magic up and down his erection through his boxer shorts. He grabbed your arms tightly as his mouth continued to work yours, at first passionately but later sloppily as you kept distracting him.

"You like this, huh?" you taunted him after you had pulled away a little, just enough for him to not be able to reach your lips again. He frowned as he looked from your provoking lips to your amused eyes and back again, struggling to get what he wanted.

When he realised his attempts were all going to be futile, he decided to use a different tactic. His hand made its way down to rub the insides of your thighs sensually, at the same time spreading your legs a little so that he could rub himself against you. Your breathing hitched for a moment before a moan squeezed its way out, your face turning slightly red in embarrassment but Mikoto mistook it as your lust making itself visible in your cheeks.

He smirked and moved one of his hands a little higher to press himself against you even harder. Your hips matched his movements by rubbing along with him, both of you growing more heated by the second until Mikoto couldn't take it any longer. He growled and bit into the side of your neck, ignoring your wince and wriggling his free hand beneath your back to unclasp your bra.

You arched your back to aid him in his quest to release your breasts and before you knew it, the redhead was kissing one of your nipples while he managed to continue his movements below. You were torn between enjoying both sensations until you just threw him off by rolling to your side, not wanting to wait any longer.

Opening the drawer to the nightstand, you found a pack of Izumo's condoms and, with a smirk, you grabbed one before returning to the displeased King. Ignoring his stare that told you he hadn't been ready to stop just yet, you slid his boxers down as far as possible to free his 'manhood' only to capture it in a latex prison immediately after. This made the redhead even unhappier, but you knew he didn't want any children just yet and neither did you, so you disregarded his unspoken complaints.

As some form of revenge, he pushed you over once you were done and removed his underwear himself before working on your panties, flinging them across the room. He crawled on top of you and you knew you were going to get it now as you saw an amused twinkle in his eyes.

His fingers massaged the flesh next to your hipbones teasingly and if you hadn't been hypnotised by his ember eyes you would have felt the tickling sensation. He positioned himself just above you and rubbed you with himself, as if missing the target he was supposed to hit, but you knew he was doing it deliberately.

It was absolute torture.

To almost have him, but not completely... That only added to the growing pool of lust inside of you which caused you to lift your hips to try and get him to slip into you. He smirked at your efforts and merely held your body down with his hand while the other went to join his member in his game of playing with you.

Two of his fingers probed your opening as said member pushed lightly against you, but of course not enough to your liking. As the feeling of helplessness washed over you, you gave up your struggle and were just about to relax and let him do his thing when you suddenly remembered that you still had arms.

You grabbed a strand of his red hair and pulled him down, kissing him and letting your tongue slip through the opening between his lips. His hold on you slackened slightly and in that moment you finally had some luck and managed to somehow get him to enter you. The two of you let out a low moan at the same time. Mikoto completely forgot that he had been torturing you and instead just went along with the flow, continuing with what you had started.

He positioned his hand between himself and you, his finger slowly circling your bundle of nerves as the other grabbed one of your breasts, massaging it harshly. In turn, you wrapped one of your arms around him to hug him as tightly as possible while your free hand joined his to massage his other parts.

As he kept on pounding in on you, you had to bite your lip to hold back any other sounds that you may have wanted to make, in fear of waking the children downstairs or notifying anyone else who had come back home of your activities. Izumo was always the last to return after one of these nights out and even after that he would stay downstairs to clean the bar so you didn't have to worry about getting caught in his bedroom, having sex on his bed.

Mikoto did the same but didn't succeed completely in being soundless and the moans that managed to escape only made it harder for you to stay silent. Your skin was starting to feel damp with sweat, and so was his, but when normally you would have found the feeling disgusting, today it somehow added to the ambiance of lovemaking.

Suddenly, the redhead slowed down until he stopped completely. He had his eyes shut tight, his mouth a thin line, and you started to worry. He didn't make a sound, so you doubted that he was reaching his climax. "Mikoto... Are you alright?"

He grunted and slowly opened his eyes again to look at you. "Don't move."

Ah, you got it now. He was almost there but hadn't wanted it to end just yet. Mainly because _you_ weren't ready yet. You smiled at him, pulled your hand back and caressed his cheek lovingly.

"You don't have to hold yourself back for me, love," you whispered, not knowing where the nickname came from. "You can always give me what I want afterwards."

Mikoto continued to stare at you for a few moments before he nodded and started moving again. In and out, at first slow and steady, but soon he quickened his rhythm, his finger that was pleasuring you almost _impaling_ you as he concentrated more on trying hit the right spots inside of you.

You stopped holding on to him and your hands grabbed the sheets on the bed instead as you forced yourself to keep quiet. Mikoto could only hold on to you and bite his lips to try and attain the same results, his fingers probably leaving bruises on your skin as they dug into your sides.

The redhead started panting and he closed his eyes again, letting you know he was growing close once more. You felt yourself get warmer too, but weren't sure if you could make it in time, so you just worried about making it as great as possible for your man. He was already doing his best to move in and out of you at a fast pace without receiving any overly squeaky sounds from the mattress or the bed, so you tried to lighten his burden by somehow rolling your hips and squeezing any muscles down there that might have an effect.

"Ng..." Was the only warning you got before the pattern became irregular, Mikoto's head coming down to suck on your lips with vigour as he released his seed into the condom.

He didn't look up and didn't pause, he immediately pulled himself out of you and started rubbing you again as his other hand continued the pace on your core. He curled one of fingers to press against a particular spot inside of you that you didn't even know existed, but it managed to make you grab the sheets again as you gasped softly.

His disappointed frown - disappointed with himself for not letting you finish as well - disappeared at the noises you started making and no amount of squeezing blankets could have stopped you as his fingers did their job on you.

It didn't take long before you were begging for more, as quietly as possible of course, and the redhead tried to comply immediately, adding more fingers or rubbing harder until you were writhing beneath him.

A feeling inside of you started building up and you tried to sit up but Mikoto wouldn't let you and came down to you inside, to let you kiss him. You felt it coming nearer and you wanted to be as close as possible to him. The feeling of his tongue against yours only added to the feeling, but what actually pushed you over the edge were three simple words that he purred into your ear.

"Cum for me."

You gasped as a sensation you couldn't describe washed over you, his fingers continuing their hard work as he helped you through the waves of your climax. Your muscles spasmed and you held your breath as you waited for the feeling to subside.

"Oh, oh, oh, stop please," you winced as the magic disappeared and what had made you tip now started to hurt.

Mikoto pulled his hands away and decided it was time to pull off his condom now, which he then threw into a dustbin standing somewhere nearby.

Suddenly everything came crashing back on top of you as you realised what you had done, and especially _where_ you had done it, and before you knew you were up and about again, gathering your clothes.

"What are you doing?" Mikoto asked you as he watched you jump about, trying to count and recount what you had found and what was still missing while the redhead himself continued to lounge on the bed that wasn't his.

"We should go back to your room," you whispered once you had found everything that belonged to you. Mikoto only sighed and got up as well and even put on new sheets on the bed to humour you, before he joined you in his search for his clothes.

Nobody noticed your naked trip back to Mikoto's room and in no time you were settled back on the bed you usually slept in, cuddling with the man with whom you had just shared an intimate moment. Hopefully the first of many more to come.

And just like that, you fell asleep feeling more satisfied than you ever had. That was, if you didn't count the horrible sticky feeling of sweaty limbs stuck together.


	20. Simple Man

**[A/N]: **heey, update! :D The post-sex-sex-scene belongs to shigurechan134, thank you very much for the idea :3 Anyways, enjoy! ^^

* * *

**Simple Man  
**_Or take your time, don't live too fast, troubles will come and they will pass.  
You'll find a woman and you'll find love and don't forget that there is a someone up above._

Rays of sun managed to shine in through the curtains that hadn't been closed properly, casting light on the two entangled bodies lying in bed. As the sun began to rise farther into the sky, the beams were directed in your face, making you stir slightly.

You slowly opened your eyes, groaned at the headache from last night's alcohol and rolled to your side, your sleepy gaze resting on the redhead next to you. A smile crept onto your face as you remembered at what happened _after_ the alcohol, glad that you found out that what had been going on didn't have anything to do with you. Or with Mikoto himself either, for that matter. You asked yourself how Izumo would feel if he found out about your revenge.

The smile disappeared when you noticed the troubled face on Mikoto's face, his fingers twitching erratically all of a sudden. You watched him for a few minutes, not knowing whether you should wake him up or not, but then he stopped all by himself and continued to sleep peacefully.

With a small shrug, you decided to get up and have a nice and warm shower to try and get rid of your semi-hangover. You managed to get out of bed without waking Mikoto, and then you quickly put on a t-shirt, underwear and a pair of shorts. After you had gathered a set of clean clothes and your comb, you made your way to the shower in the hopes of not meeting anyone in the hallway.

You entered the bathroom, immediately turned on the water in the shower and then stripped down again. You threw your clothes over the rack of towels standing in the corner and quickly slipped under the stream of warm water, already feeling better the moment the water started steaming down your body.

Firstly, you squeezed some shampoo into the palm of your hand and started to massage it onto your scalp, the foam building up as you did so.

"Damn," you muttered as you realised your mistake: you should have brushed your bed hair before stepping into the shower. Trying to comb your fingers through the tangled knots that were your hair, you winced a few times before finally giving up and just letting the water wash the shampoo away.

A sudden draft notified you of a breach in the room and in that moment you realised your second mistake. Having forgotten to lock the door, someone was now opening it, but your panic faded as soon as you recognised the aura of the intruder.

You relaxed and smiled, turning your back to the door even though the shower curtain would have been enough protection already. The sound of clothes shuffling and falling to the ground could be heard and then the curtain was pushed to the side.

"Did you have a nightmare?" you asked without turning around just before someone started stealing your water. Mikoto didn't reply, instead he just softly pressed his palm to the small of your back.

"Mikoto..." you started when you realised why he was doing so. A faded, red mark that almost took the form of someone's fist rested there and you knew that even though Mikoto didn't actually feel guilty about it, he still felt horrible whenever he thought about it.

In an attempt to distract him, you grabbed a bottle of shower gel, turned around and pressed it into his hand. "Will you wash me, please?"

All his former troubles forgotten, the amusement was obvious in his eyes as he poured a little of the gel into his cupped hand. He gave the bottle back to you, rubbed his hands together and then started to clean your body with the cold stuff, making you shiver a little.

He started with your shoulders, massaging his way down your arms where he went back up again and moved for your breasts. He gave both of them an equal amount of attention, your nipples perking up almost as if they were happy. Once he made sure they were cleaned properly, his hands made their way over your stomach, a finger dipping into your bellybutton in a playful manner. At your hips, his hands parted and both went their own way as they each covered one of your legs.

When he was done with that, he let the soap wash away before squeezing a hand between your thighs and making sure you were all cleaned up down there. You arched your back in pleasure as he found your spot again and for the first time, you let yourself moan loudly. Thank God for the noisy shower.

Though the water would have taken care of making you wet enough, Mikoto decided to see the effect he was having on you for himself and entered a single finger, his eyes catching yours with his stare as he watched you react. You felt how he wriggled his digit around in a slow, almost torturing manner before pulling it out.

The results he found pleased him.

Mikoto caught your lips with his and as you noticed the taste of the cigarette he must have smoked just before entering the bathroom, he reached for your hand and led it to his member. Well, that was one way to ask for something.

Denying his request, you poured some of the gel onto your own hand and went to give him a clean-up as well. You took annoyingly long with his chest - if he could, why couldn't you? - and took the same route as he had when you reached his hips.

You could almost feel the impatience rolling off of him in waves, but that only made you take your time even _more_ when it came to rubbing soap over his strong legs. Once you felt you had tortured the poor man enough, your hands crawled back up and began to rub him, which made him almost became hard the very moment you touched it.

You grinned at the effect you were having on him and watched his erection grow and twitch with every squeeze you gave him as you made sure to clean all of him.

Before long, Mikoto surprised you by lifting you up slightly but despite your confusion you immediately wrapped your legs around his waist. He didn't wait any longer and shifted you around a bit.

Realising what he was planning on doing, you started to wriggle about frantically. "Mikoto!"

He gave you an exasperated look and quickly dropped you. Then he gestured to the floor just outside the shower. You gave him a quick kiss before turning around and, because you did feel a little bad for killing the mood just like that, tried to bend over as sexily as you could to grab the condom lying on the ground.

"I know you'd rather go without, but I'm guessing you don't want me to get pregnant just now, right?" you reprimanded him like he was a kid who had tried to steal a cookie from the jar in the kitchen. He raised an eyebrow at you, almost taunting you, as if saying, "Well, maybe I _do_ want to get you pregnant."

He didn't actually say anything as he pulled you back up and because you wanted to make up for the interruptions, you reached down rather awkwardly to position him just right. All he had to do was move forward and he was already sliding home.

A sound of pleasure left your throat as you threw your head back and Mikoto moved closer to the wall so you could rest your back against it, to take some of your weight off his arms. Everything else that he did was more focused on you though, even though you hadn't asked for you. He probably wanted to 'make up' for yesterday, for his moves were slow and almost purposeful, as if he existed only to please you.

"Ahh, M-Mikoto..." You gasped, causing him to stop what he was doing. You groaned angrily and lowered your head to glare at him, to see that twinkle in his eyes again.

"What?" he asked, obviously teasing you.

You bit your lip, not quite daring to ask the question you were about to throw out in the open, but at the same time _needing_ to demand it from him. "C-can you please go... a little faster?"

Mikoto grinned as he started moving again, his mouth latching on to yours as his fingers started doing their routine again. You moaned into his mouth and you could almost feel him twitch inside of you, which caused you to gasp again.

He complied to your request, though, and soon he was pumping in and out of you at a steady pace. That feeling from yesterday started building up again, but faster, and you bit Mikoto's lip as you tried to hold it back, tried to enjoy the moment just a bit longer.

"Ahh, oh God..." you groaned as you scrunched your toes and just let go of everything.

As the delight of your orgasm washed over you, you fastened the grasp of your arms around Mikoto's neck and buried your face in his hair as you moaned over and over again until the feeling ebbed away, leaving you satisfied.

By then, the redhead had stopped all he was doing and was waiting for your next move. You didn't do anything, though, and just kissed his crown before murmuring, "You can have some too."

When he stayed still, you rocked your hips back and forth instead, his chest rumbling as you did so.

"You like this, huh?" you asked him with a small smile.

You continued your movements until it became unbearable for the King and he joined you in your dance, slamming himself into you almost painfully hard.

Groans and grunts filled the room, when all of a sudden Mikoto's body began to shine red. The sound of sizzling could be heard and you watched through your half-lidded eyes how the water that had been sliding down him seconds ago was drying up just like that.

Steam filled the air and all of a sudden you felt like you were in a sauna instead of the bathroom, just as Mikoto let out one final, low breath that indicated he was there. You helped him by continuing the rocking of your hips and felt a surge of happiness run through you as you saw him smile at you while panting heavily.

"Mikoto..." you started, but you interrupted yourself by wriggling yourself free from his grasp and freeing him of the burden of your weight. Then you straightened yourself again and pressed a short, sweet kiss to his lips. "You really need to be more careful. You might put fire to something."

Mikoto suddenly noticed all the fog hanging in the air and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

* * *

"Ah, they've finally gone and done it." Izumo sighed happily after sniffing the air, as if he could smell it, as he watched you and Mikoto come downstairs, his chin resting on the palm of his hand while his elbow was propped on top of the bar.

"Done what?" poor, innocent Misaki asked, switching his gaze from Izumo to you and back again.

"They've had sex," Rikio whispered to him as he tried his best to stifle a chuckle.

"Y-you mean, sexual intercourse?" Misaki's face became a beautiful shade of red as the images of two people doing something like that popped up in his mind. Despite being nineteen years old, he still felt rather shy when thinking of those kind of things, let alone _enjoying_ it.

"Yes. S – e – x. Sex," Rikio replied with a grin.

"In your bed, by the way," you shot at Izumo as you sat at the bar in between Misaki and Mikoto, smirking widely as your best friend shook his head in fake sadness.

"That's what you get for trying to help people these days," he mourned quietly and handed Mikoto his breakfast, to which you immediately reacted by fishing bits and pieces from the dish.

"So," you started in between munches, "Anything planned for today?"

Misaki immediately perked up at that, excitement radiating off of him in red waves. "We're going to the beach!"

You stopped chewing and stared at him, even checked for his temperature. "You do know that it's almost autumn, right? Not warm, anymore?"

Misaki was about to open his mouth to protest, but Izumo was kind enough to do so in his stead, probably to get his revenge for you having revenge in his bed.

"You should go and have a look outside."

With a shrug, you slid off your seat and made your way to the door, trying to catch a glimpse outside of anything usual going on. The only thing you could see was the street, the city's inhabitants walking by and rays of sunlight shining down on the pavement.

"What-" you started but stopped when you actually opened the door and took a step outside.

Almost within the same second you were practically crawling back, gasping for water. "I think, I think I got a sunburn..."

"How is that even _possible_? You were outside for just a moment!" Izumo raised his eyebrow at you in amusement.

"Exactly!"

"When can we go to the beach?" Anna's voice appeared from next to Mikoto and when the row of people sitting at the bar turned to look in her direction, they saw her tugging at Mikoto's sleeve.

Izumo smiled at the little girl before replying. "Very soon, when the others get up, alright?"

Anna nodded, satisfied with the answer she got. Then she climbed onto the stool next to Mikoto's and immediately received a glass of water from Izumo.

"If you wait for them to wake up, then you'll probably have to wait till tomorrow," Rikio added with a huge grin.

Who knew what those boys had done at the club and when they had decided to get back home. Yes, that could take a while if they were left to their own devices.

"Why are you two up so early, then?" you asked Misaki and Rikio, eying them suspiciously.

Misaki's face immediately turned red and he looked away while Rikio started laughing loudly. "You see, this beautiful lady tried to get Yata-san to come home with her, but of course he panicked and even dragged me back to the bar."

"Poor Misaki." You ruffled his beanie and his hair, much to his dismay, and gave him a sympathetic look.

In that exact moment, the rest of the bar came stumbling down the stairs, much earlier than expected.

"Sheesh, you guys really don't know when to be quiet," Saburatou groaned as he plopped down next to Rikio. Masaomi took the stool next to that one while Yo first went to see off a girl he had brought back with him from the club.

"I hope nobody's got anything planned for today..."

A collective groan went through the boys who had just gotten up when they saw the grins everyone else was wearing.

* * *

Mikoto was a very simple man. He liked his drinks cold and a cigarette was enough to make him happy, he had no need for extravagance despite being a King, the King of the Red Clan. Having you by his side was really just a great bonus that he enjoyed having.

Though maybe nothing would be the same for the redhead if he no longer had you.

This he thought to himself as he watched you sprint across the sand in your bathing suit with a surfboard tucked under your arm, Misaki following you with his own board as you raced each other to reach the water.

"Why are you running so fast?!" Misaki screamed at you, falling behind far quicker than he liked.

You yelled at him over your shoulder, "I need a head start!" This, of course, because the skater had an advantage while on his board while you were better with using just your legs.

Mikoto caught himself smiling as he sat up to watch the vanguard chase you into the sea, where he soon caught up to you and pushed you from your board by a mere tap to the object.

Your scream was cut off as your head went under water and you sputtered as you came back up to execute your revenge, but no matter how you tried to pull at Misaki's surfboard, he wouldn't budge.

"It's weird to see you in love," Izumo commented all of a sudden, pulling the redhead from his daydream.

He didn't react, however, as if waiting for the bartender to continue his observation. When he didn't, Mikoto just let out a small 'hmpf' and pulled out a cigarette, handing one to Izumo as well.

"Hey, I don't blame you. One look is enough to understand why you'd fall for someone like her." As if to demonstrate this fact, Izumo followed Mikoto's gaze to see what you were up to now. Misaki had pulled you along to the less deep part of the sea and was holding your hands to keep you steady as you stood on the surfboard, albeit very wobbly.

A few seconds later, Yo and Masaomi came swimming over to where you were trying to surf, both intent on annoying their older sister. Another scream left your mouth as you fell into the water once more and then the boys started yelling as you tried to pull them under with you by tugging at their legs.

"She chose us over her parents, doesn't that say enough? And she treats everyone with respect. I'm never going to tell her this, but I think she could easily replace us as HOMRA's mothers," Izumo added, choosing the wrong moment to do so.

You threw your board at the boys, completely forgetting it was still attached to your ankle and cursing when you were reminded of this fact as the board never managed to reach anyone.

When Mikoto just continued to stare at his clan without replying to Izumo's speech, he decided it was time to try and get some kind of reaction from the King. "So, when are you planning on having children?"

That did work, ember eyes staring at Izumo as if he had gone crazy. Still, he couldn't stop himself from imagining having a child with you but then he quickly abandoned the thought.

In the meanwhile, you had given up on your goal to learn how to surf and instead opted to sit on the board, one leg on each side, and paddle towards Tatara and Ayame who were building sandcastles with Anna.

When you found out you weren't needed there, you slowly made your way back to the sand and jogged over to HOMRA's parents.

"Mikoto," you whined and started tugging at his arms, "I'm bored, come with me!"

Izumo smiled and held a book over his head, as if that would make him disappear from sight.

"I don't have anything to swim in," Mikoto told you, seeming genuinely troubled by the fact that he couldn't make you happy.

Your grin told him that you had everything planned and you magically pulled out a pair of trunks. "Tada!"

"You know, for someone as tomboyish as you, you can really be rather womanly," Izumo joked, receiving a whack on his head from you.

"You think these hips are for nothing?" You clicked your tongue in disapproval and let Mikoto's trunk hang from your index finger while giving the owner of the pants your most seductive look. Slowly letting them fall to the ground, you smiled sweetly at Izumo and made your way back to the water, exaggerating the swaying of your hips as you went with the King and his second in command staring at your retreating back.

"I…" Izumo started before gulping. "I don't think I've ever seen someone wear a bathing suit that wasn't a bikini and thinking it was sexy…"

When he saw Mikoto's sharp eyes land on him, he quickly held his hands up before adding, "And what's even worse is that she's my best friend!"

The redhead seemed pleased with this answer, put his cigarette out with a sigh and held the swimming trunks in his hand. "Guess I'll go get changed."

"It's not everyday that you get to see the Red King swimming," Izumo commented with a low whistle, which earned him another glare from said King.

"Don't call me that." And with that, he went off to search some changing cabins.

A few minutes later, Mikoto left the small tent in the trunks you had given him and his white t-shirt, because he felt too lazy to put sunscreen on his torso. And just like that, he marched off into the ocean where you welcomed him with a wet hug.

"King!" Tatara threw a beach ball at Mikoto, who caught it just before it hit his head. "Want to join us?"

The redhead stayed silent for a few moments, as if contemplating whether he should actually join them in their game. But then he saw your grin as you held out your arms, signalling to him that he should throw the ball to you and he decided to just have some fun for once.

"Mikoto-san!" Misaki popped up from behind him and was the first to receive the ball from Mikoto.

The other boys joined the game too and soon Izumo yelled to start a football match with the usual baseball teams. Ayame refused to join in and sat at the side to play with Anna, who might get injured in the rough games of men playing together.

As the screams of commands and cheers filled the air, a cool breeze swept through everyone's hair. Anna seemed to be the only one to notice as she looked up in the sky, feeling slightly puzzled.

The weather was going to be changing very soon.


	21. For My Sake

**[A/N]: **I'd like to apologise in advance to all the readers who won't be liking the next few chapters (because I have the feeling that a lot of people won't agree with how I'm making the story progress). Anyways, I still hope that most of you people will enjoy it! Thank you for reading/faving/following/reviewing, you guys make my day ^^

* * *

**For My Sake  
**_Stop slowing me down, stop holding me up, quit making a scene, enough's enough.  
Let's be honest, your promise, was never meant to last.  
I'm taking you on, I'm calling you out, there's nothing left for us here now.  
Let's be honest, I promise, I'm never looking back for my sake._

_The others won't forgive my death. Mark my words._

It was really just a day like any other when everything came crashing down once more, as if you hadn't already experienced enough shit to last you a lifetime. Thinking back, you realised that if you had just stayed inside that day, everything would have remained as it was and your merry life would have went on.

Anna's birthday was coming up soon and Izumo wanted to take her out and let her pick her birthday present, which would probably become a new dress. She got so enthusiastic that her eyes almost started shining and everyone internally 'aww'ed as they left to go shopping for presents.

Normally you would have hit yourself on the head at forgetting your coat when winter was just around the corner, but when around Mikoto and his warmth you could walk naked all year long and never catch a cold. Especially during the summer his presence was almost unbearably hot, but it was nothing a few dozen fans couldn't fix.

The streets were rather deserted with the cold weather, so HOMRA could make their way through the city without getting a large amount of stares and within no time they were at the shops Anna liked to buy things from.

"Let's not all go in at the same time and scare the people away, okay?" you suggested and everyone froze on the spot. All of them had been planning on barging into the store at the same time, but realising their mistake they quickly reconsidered the idea.

"I'll go with her," Izumo said as he grabbed Anna's hand, who grabbed Mikoto with her other hand, automatically making him number two.

"We'll come too," Tatara announced, gesturing to himself and Ayame. Izumo nodded and with that, the rest of the group dispersed in different directions to have a look at other shops.

You didn't feel like shopping at all so instead you just lingered about in front of the building Anna and the others had just entered. On the opposite side of the street, a stand with newspapers was practically staring at you, begging you to pick a paper up and read it.

Heaving a sigh, you crossed the street at an overly slow pace, trying to kill as much time as possible. Once you had finally reached the stand, you smiled at the man standing behind it and handed him a few coins.

"Thanks," he mumbled as he pocketed the money before handing you a fresh newspaper.

You didn't even bother walking back to your spot in front of the shop, instead opting to browse through the news to see if anything interesting had happened. Scepter 4 had found another stray Strain, the Gold King had visited someone else, something about the Silver King's aircraft…

Why did everything seem to revolve around the Kings and their Clans?

At least the Red Clan wasn't in it, like it was most of the time. Destroyed this, demolished that… The paparazzi never really seemed to find anything original to write about.

Then came the ads… A new singer was starting in the city giving cheap concerts. New, great, mind-blowing films were coming out soon. Drinks, foods, toys, electronics…

You turned the page and your eyes scanned the top of the page: a list of people who had died recently. Sighing once more, you wanted to skip this depressing news and go to the next page when you caught sight of your surname.

There, in the left-hand corner of the first memorial page, in bold letters stood _Shouta_ with two pictures under it: one of your mother and one of your father.

Your heart suddenly seemed to stop beating as you read your parents' name over and over again, as if you couldn't believe it. When your hands started trembling, the man who had sold you the cursed papers started wondering what was up with you. "Are you alright?"

"Huh, wha… Yes, I'm fine," you quickly responded and closed the paper, folding it as much as you possibly could to keep your shaking fingers busy while you crossed the street again.

When the others were finally done, they all came back outside. Anna was holding a bag, a huge smile on her face. The smile immediately disappeared when she saw you.

"Haru, are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost," Izumo asked you when he noticed Anna's change in demeanour. Mikoto reacted as well, his hand automatically finding your forehead to check your temperature.

"You're sweating," was his very helpful comment.

You took a step back from the group and smiled at them. "No, everything's fine. Come, let's go home and wash Anna's dress so she can put it on."

The boys shared a glance as you grabbed Anna's hand and made your way back to the bar, chattering about all different kind of things to the little girl who was wearing a worried expression as well. She looked over her shoulder at the others and Izumo waved his hand dismissively, telling her she shouldn't worry. Not like that would actually make Anna _not_ worry, but it helped a little.

* * *

While you were upstairs, helping Anna with her new dress, the boys downstairs were holding a small meeting concerning the sudden change in your behaviour.

"She was alright when we entered the shop, right?" Tatara offered as he thought back. "So something must've happened while we were gone."

Izumo put a hand under his chin, rubbing it thoughtfully. "But what on Earth could have happened out there without us noticing? And in such a short time span?"

"Why are we so worried, anyway? She's a woman, they always have these periods right? Why make such a big deal out of it?" Yo let out a sigh and got up, ready to leave with Masaomi and Saburatou.

Izumo smiled as he waved them off, but not without adding, "Oh no, you don't get it. If it's something like that then she won't stop complaining. You know something's actually going on when she won't talk about it."

The boys scratched their heads before shrugging and leaving the bar. "Women."

In the meanwhile, Mikoto had gotten up and walked over to the counter. He lifted the papers that had been placed there, reading the front page. Ayame noticed and walked over to him. "What's this? A newspaper?"

"Newspaper? We don't get any here…" Izumo joined them in scanning the pages. "But why would this upset her?"

Mikoto stopped flitting through the papers, his eyes stopping on the list of deceased people. He tensed when he saw what he did, confusing the others. "What's wrong, King? What does it say?"

He didn't answer, instead just pointing with his finger.

"Oh shit," Izumo muttered, holding a hand over his eyes when he saw it as well.

Ayame just pressed her hands against her mouth as she welcomed the consoling hug that Tatara gave her once he found out what had happened too. Misaki, Rikio and Kousuke were left in the dark a little longer, staring in confusion as Mikoto threw the papers to the side and made his way upstairs.

In Anna's room, he didn't even have to say a word to the little girl who immediately understood that she should go downstairs. The look on both your and his face was enough: he knew what was going on and you knew that he knew.

"Why didn't you tell me?" was all he said, but it was enough to make you burst out in tears and seek refuge in his arms.

"Because I didn't want to believe it."

For the next few minutes, the two of you stood there in silence, neither of you knowing what to say as the tears kept coming.

* * *

"Uhu."

"Yes."

"Alright, I understand."

"Really?"

"Oh…"

"Thank you very much."

_Click_.

Izumo hung up, his shoulders slumping significantly before he turned to look at you. "So, I just called Scepter 4 to ask if they had any more information on your parents' death…"

"And?" you asked him, trying your best not to hope for anything. What were you wishing for anyway? That is was just a mistake, that they were still alive? Or that it was just an accident?

"Well, yes, they know what happened… And who did it…" Your heart sank to your little toe. "It was the Yakuza."

Your body froze all of a sudden, it becoming almost impossible to just breathe.

_The others won't forgive my death. Mark my words._

This was just their revenge, right? You killed one of theirs, they kill one of yours. Or two of yours, in this case. Maybe the guy had been someone important to them. But they had given up on him themselves! Then why…

"They couldn't get enough evidence to actually capture them, though… They were very thorough, for once," Izumo added in a sad tone.

You didn't hear anything he said, the gears in your head already turning. All you had to do was find out who exactly had done it, and then you'd ask Mikoto if he and the rest of HOMRA would come with you to demolish them. Anger started to bubble up inside of you the longer you thought about this and you opened your mouth to ask Mikoto for help. "Mikoto-"

"No."

Everyone, including you, looked up in surprise at Mikoto's curt statement. Your heart skipped a beat as he stared at you, his eyes hard and distant as he did so.

"Mikoto…" you tried again, ignoring the fact that he had answered your request before you had even said it out loud, trying to fight him.

He stood up to look stronger and scarier and glared down at you. "You are not going to avenge them."

Something inside of you snapped and you jumped up too, stabbing him with your finger.

"Why not?! They killed my parents!"

"Your _parents_ wouldn't have done the same for you." Mikoto started to grow mad too, now. Why did you have to be so stubborn?

"Yes, well, I gave them up, remember? For _you._ I owe them at least this!" you shouted at him, fury making your aura flare slightly.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Fine! Then I'll do this _ridiculous _shit by myself. I'm leaving!"

"Fine."

"FINE!"

With a slam of the door, you were gone and everyone stayed still, eyes wide at what had just happened.

"Well… That escalated quickly…" Izumo muttered as he scratched his head. He stared out of the window and watched you storm off, without your jacket.

"S-shouldn't you go after her, Mikoto-san?" Misaki tried while he got up to go after you, but he only got an angry look from Mikoto, whose eyes were glowing a soft red by now.

"Now, now, Mikoto, don't be like that," Izumo sighed, pushing the almost-seething redhead back down onto the couch.

"What do we do now?" Ayame asked quietly. "It's becoming cold already and who knows for how long she'll be out there."

"She'll come back soon," Mikoto muttered, which made Izumo laugh.

"I wouldn't count on it."

"Then we'll wait until she's done."

"King, you can't be serious!" Tatara decided to voice his mind too.

"You wouldn't want her to stay mad at us for the rest of her life here," Mikoto grumbled and let his head rest against the back of the couch to stare at the ceiling. "She chose to do this, so she'll have to either go through it herself or give up."

"I think she's only mad with you, King," Tatara chuckled, trying his best to lighten the mood in the room.

"I guess you're right. She can't just expect us to help her with whatever she needs, after all," Izumo mused, completely ignoring Tatara as he sat on a stool. "She needs to learn that she has her own responsibilities as well."

"I hope it doesn't take too long. Anna's birthday is soon, after all," Rikio mumbled, looking over at the little girl who had stayed silent throughout the whole revelation.

Tatara walked over to her and slung an arm around her small shoulders. "Don't worry! It'll all work out."

By the time your anger had cooled down and you had realised what kind of troubles you had worked yourself into, it was already dark. The heat that kept you warm disappeared together with your rage and you ended up sitting in a corner in a dark alleyway, staring at the sky.

The situation reminded you a little of years ago, when you had first officially joined HOMRA. A small smile managed to wiggle itself on your lips as you thought back to how everything had been back then, with just the four of you and with everyone adjusting to their newly-received auras…

You had been quite the idiot, hadn't you? You still were, actually. That became quite clear as soon as you reminded yourself of how you had been lying outside like this when you first flipped out because of the addiction that came with using these flames. These flames that were barely enough to fight with these days.

"What am I supposed to do?" you muttered to yourself, already yearning for your bed and a certain redhead to keep you warm.

But at the same time, you didn't want to give up only hours after starting your quest. To honour your parents. To show them that you had grown up since leaving them. To at least try to do something that might have made them feel proud of you.

Then again, they were _dead_ now. Who knew how long this would take. Weeks? Months? Years? Maybe you would never come out of this alive again, never see that smirk of his anymore. Could you even do this all by yourself, without Mikoto's help?

Anger flared inside of you once more at the thought of him abandoning you. If you had been in his position, you knew you would have helped him. Why had he declined your request just like that? You thought you could count on him, on the Red Clan, if you needed something. But he had been right about your parents. Had it been your name in the papers, they probably wouldn't have thought more of it than that you had become a victim in one of your stupid gang wars; that you had gotten what you had deserved.

But still… You had already chosen HOMRA once before, wasn't it time to choose your parents now?

And then, having made up your mind, you wrapped your arms around your body and tried to muster up as much warmth as possible without attracting any unwanted attention. Then you closed your eyes and stayed still until sleep decided to wash over you.

This was going to be a long night.

And the nights to come would be as well.

* * *

You had finally managed to fall asleep and had slept a few hours without even realising it, when something disturbed your slumber.

While opening your eyes to see it was still dark, you found the cause of your awakening not much later: squealing that almost tore your heart apart by just listening to it could be heard not too far away from your spot. People were muttering things and it sounded like something was being hit occasionally.

Still half-asleep, you got to your feet and made your way towards the sounds while using the wall for support. By the time you got to the disturbance, you were fully awake and your blood was boiling at what you saw.

In the street lights, you could see two figures cornering someone slumped together on the ground. As you made your way closer, you realised that they weren't threatening a human, but a _dog_.

"What the fuck are you doing?" you managed through gnashed teeth, your hands curled into fists as you watched one of the bastards lift his foot again.

The men both whipped their heads at you, both scowling and looking so angry at you that _they_ looked more like dogs than the one of the ground did. "'s none of your business, missy."

You ran over to them, grabbed the speaker by his collar and slammed him against the wall, pushing your nose against his and trying your best to make your hands glow an intimidating red.

"You're hurting a defenceless cohabitant of this planet, how is that _not_ my business, you asshole?" You added to your statement by kicking him in the stomach with your knee which made him cough a little blood.

"Oi!" his friend yelled as he grabbed you by the shoulder, turning you around and effectively freeing his partner. Then he punched you on your cheek before you could react, sending you swivelling to the pavement next to the shivering animal.

The boy you had attacked first spat on your shirt and pulled his friend along while muttering, "Piece of shit ain't worth it."

And with that, silence reigned once more.

Realising you were lying in the middle of a main street, you slowly crawled back over to your alley, feeling too dizzy from the hit to get up and walk. You almost laughed at yourself, glad that no one from HOMRA had been around to witness your failure. The fact that you barely had enough power left in you to summon a vast flame was humiliating enough, but getting punched in the face by a dog-beating brat? That was just pathetic. At least you had saved an animal in the process.

You remembered the dog you were supposed to be checking over for wounds just as you returned to your spot, but it was only then that you noticed that you had acquired a fan during the event.

Through the dim light that came in from the street you could see the tail that was wagging as a tongue licked your throbbing cheek, almost as if it were apologising for all the trouble it had caused you. You quickly ran your hands through its fur and were relieved to find that, somehow, it hadn't received any major wounds.

_"Maybe fate is granting me a little something after all,"_ you thought as your new-found comrade dropped itself in your lap and promptly began to sleep. Happy with the company, you followed it into dreamland soon after.


End file.
